Kentucky Basketball: 5 New Year's Resolutions for the Wildcats

There have been plenty of positives so far this season for Kentucky, but looking forward, there are certainly plenty of areas for the Wildcats to improve heading into 2016.

With New Year's coming and everyone making resolutions about ways to improve, the Kentucky basketball team should be doing the same. There should be promises from the players and coaching staff about how to better themselves in the coming months.

Obviously, not everyone keeps their resolutions, so even the discussion alone doesn't mean much, but there are certainly goals for this team to try to accomplish if it wants to contend for a national championship.

Here is a look at some target areas for the Wildcats to improve as we change calendars.

Keep Intensity Shown vs. Louisville

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This will be the biggest challenge for Kentucky as the season continues. It's easy to play at a high level against a hated rival on national television. It's much harder to keep the intensity every single game.

The win over Louisville featured some of the best basketball we have seen all year from the Wildcats. They pulled away after a close first half and built up as much as a 16-point lead in the second half. Although the Cardinals were able to challenge at the end, it was still impressive basketball from the home team.

There were a lot of factors contributing to the win, but the most impressive part was the defensive effort to force turnovers and make every shot difficult. The team was active in the press as well as in the half court, and it led to success against a quality opponent.

Kentucky had gotten a bit lazy before this game, especially in the recent loss to Ohio State. The key going forward will be playing with the level of focus and intensity it showed against Louisville for the rest of the year.

Trust the Bench

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This one is for the coaching staff, which has seemingly been afraid of going too far down the bench at times this season.

Injuries and inconsistent play has caused some shifts in the starting lineup, but when healthy, it seems the rotation is limited to Tyler Ulis, Isaiah Briscoe and Jamal Murray in the backcourt with Skal Labissiere, Alex Poythress and Marcus Lee getting all the minutes down low. Charles Matthews has played in each game, but even his playing time has been inconsistent.

It's tough to navigate through an entire season with just seven men in the rotation.

More importantly, the kids can play. Derek Willis seems to perform on both ends of the court when in the game, while Dominique Hawkins was one of the biggest stars in the win over Louisville, scoring 13 points off the bench.

While it's clear the starters should get plenty of time to produce at a high level, Kentucky can afford to give them some rest and save them for the stretch run.

Box Out on Defensive End

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If there was one thing that kept Louisville in the game Saturday, it was offensive rebounding. The Cardinals finished with 21 offensive boards, more than the 19 Kentucky brought down on the defensive end. Bringing in one-third of missed shots is good, but securing more than half of them is extraordinary.

This is an area where Kentucky really needs to improve. According to KenPom.com, the Wildcats rank 229th in the country in defensive rebounding rate. This is especially disappointing considering the squad ranks ninth in offensive rebounding.

The problem clearly isn't a lack of size or skill in the post, but instead focus and technique. Defensive rebounding requires a lot more discipline than offensive rebounding, and Kentucky's big men have not lived up to the challenge yet this year.

While Labissiere has noted issues offensively, his problems as a rebounder are likely a major reason for his reduced minutes. The pressure is now on Poythress and Marcus Lee to do their job and keep opposing players from getting easy second-chance points.

If they can't do that, the Wildcats will be in trouble against other top opponents this year.

Don't Fall in Love with the Three

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The last two games—even the disappointing loss to Ohio State—featured some great three-point shooting from the Wildcats. Thanks to a great game from Murray, the team hit 9-of-19 from beyond the arc against the Buckeyes. They kept it up against Louisville with 11-of-23 from deep, led by Ulis and Hawkins.

These two showings have brought the team up to 31.7 percent from three-point range, which is still well below average, but at least it is creeping back toward respectability. It is tough for any team to stay below 30 percent for this long.

While the uptick is certainly helpful, it's important for the players not to all of a sudden think they are a great outside shooting team. Even some of the made threes over the past couple of games were low-percentage shots and won't go in often. Falling in love with the three could end up causing problems for this roster.

Just about everyone on Kentucky is best when driving to the basket and trying to finish at the rim. Players like Ulis and Murray can't forget this as the year continues, even after recent solid shooting days.

Play Smarter

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This is a bit of a generic statement, but it is one everyone should be working toward in 2016, especially the freshmen with the least experience. They all need to try to improve their awareness each game in order to be at their best by the time March rolls around.

Murray might be the best example of someone who needs to make smarter decisions on the floor. He has obvious talent, as he showed with his 33 points against Ohio State, but he also hurts his team by playing out of control. Against Louisville, he had seven turnovers while shooting just 3-of-14 from the field.

There is nothing wrong with a freshman making mistakes, but each one is magnified when said freshman is the team's leading scorer and one of its best players.

Labissiere and Briscoe also need to work to avoid mental errors on the court in order to truly reach their potential.

While Kentucky's best basketball is clearly ahead of it, the players need to play with a higher basketball IQ and work to improve every day in the coming months.

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