Mark Pope thinks Kentucky can end up being a 'dangerous' shooting team

This Kentucky basketball team was seen coming into the season, on paper, as one that didn't have as many shooters than last season. That was clear, until Pope talked about the team's shooting numbers in practice back in September that made many believe that maybe the team had some quality shooters after all. "That translates to a game. It always has for us," Pope said back in September.

So far this season, that has not translated into games at all. Last time out in their win over Indiana on Saturday, it wasn't their shooting that won it, it was their effort and intensity on defense that helped create offense in transition with attacking the rim with ease, especially in the second half. They did all of that all while shooting just 3-15, the lowest mark of the Pope era at Kentucky. The numbers in practice just have not translated to games yet. The Noah shooting system that the team has is showing a number of players doing well. But, for whatever reason, they aren't showing that same result in games. Despite all of that and the early-season shooting struggles, Pope still believes this team can turn into a 'dangerous' three-point shooting team by the end of the season.

""Listen, by the end of the year, I think we're going to be really dangerous shooting the ball. I do. I've never have been on a team where the where the Noah (shooting) numbers don't actually eventually transport their way into games. I just have never seen that. ...We have guys that are doing that consistently in the mid 70s (percent over time) that have not exploded onto the scene in games yet, but they do. And so that's just a matter of time."

Whether it does end up translating or not, they're going to need guys like Trent Noah, Kam Williams, and even Collin Chandler to step up, especially so for the first two guys mentioned. They haven't met that standard, but on the bright side, it's good for Kentucky fans to see their team able to pull out a win in another way, and that was being aggressive on both offense and defense, really setting the tone. Kentucky may have shot 3-15 from deep, but they forced 18 turnovers, had 23 points off them, and made the Hoosiers shoot a season-low 4-24 from three, as well as taking care of the ball on offense. Mark Pope said that should be something his team can lean on in the future, not just living and dying by the three.

"I think we can win games when we have that type of commitment to our team and that type of grit. It's not the way we want to have to win every game, but certainly I think that that's something we should be able to fall back on," Pope said.

Now, if they get the shooting numbers where they want them to be, this team could look completely different, but right now, all of the defensive hype from the off-season is starting to show itself.