Will The Rain of Allmonds Continue?

The Big Blue blogosphere has been full of dismay regarding UK's 3-point defense over the last couple of games. As you know, the Cats have given up a total of 19 treys in the last two games...to TWO PLAYERS.

Corey Allmond in particular had a career vs. the Wildcats, notching a Rupp Arena-record 11 three-pointers on Thursday. This comes on the heels of Miami's Nick Winbush tallying 8 of 10 himself in the previous game.

So what gives? Will this assault continue as UK takes on Rider this afternoon?

Well, you can bet that Cal is working on it. And there are several reasons why the threes have been raining on UK thus far:

1.) Poor switching on the perimeter. Players need to learn to SHOUT at each other, if that's what it takes, in order to communicate switches.

2.) Not closing quickly enough. When teams penetrate, there are going to be some spacing issues all over the floor. UK must learn to charge hard at the open jump shooter and not just lazily, leisurely try to close the gap.

3.) Hands up. All the time. Simply keep those long arms extended and make a special effort to distract the shooter and get a hand in his line of vision towards the target.

4.) More respect. Especially in the case of known sharpshooters like Mr. Allmond, players need to just...stick with the guy. There are certain folks on the opposing roster that require that type of attention and effort, even 20 feet from the basket.

5.) Desire. When it comes down to it, defense (like rebounding) is mostly about desire. Hunger. Having as much pride in stopping your man as in beating your man off the dribble on the other end.

Surely there are other more complex factors in consideration, not to mention the relative youth wearing blue this season, but I trust that the Cats will improve on the perimeter, sooner rather than later.