Kentucky Basketball: Wildcats' Biggest Concerns Ahead of Conference Play

There is a whole lot to like from the Kentucky Wildcats' start to the 2015-16 season, although even top teams have concerns early in the year.

At 9-1, the Wildcats have been one of the top teams in college basketball. They are ranked in the Top Five in both major polls thanks to quality wins over Duke, Arizona State and others while only dropping a single game on the road against UCLA. The defense has been extremely impressive in this stretch, allowing just 64.8 points per game, while the bigs continue to dominate the battle on the glass.

At the individual level, freshmen guards Jamal Murray and Isaiah Briscoe have shown flashes of brilliance, while upperclassmen Alex Poythress and Marcus Lee are already exceeding expectations. With Tyler Ulis running the show on offense, this is clearly a team that will remain a top contender for a national championship all year long.

Despite these positives, there are still a few complaints with how the squad has performed to this point. Heading into a pair of tough nonconference battles against Ohio State and Louisville followed by the start of the SEC season, these issues could be exposed.

The Wildcats are still an elite team, but here is a look at some concerns heading into the meat of the schedule.

Skal Labissiere's Slow Start

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Coming into the year as a projected top pick in the 2016 NBA draft, Skal Labissiere obviously had high expectations. Despite a few bright spots, it's clear the center has struggled through the first 10 games.

Labissiere is averaging 10.6 points and 3.5 rebounds per game, although he has been much worse lately. Over his last four games, the freshman is averaging just 4.5 points and 1.8 rebounds. His low point came in the win over Arizona State where he had zero points and zero rebounds in 13 minutes before fouling out.

From a long-term perspective, there really isn't much to be worried about. Labissiere came in as a relatively raw prospect, but he still has loads of potential to showcase at the next level. The freshman has reached double-digit points more times in his first 10 games (five) than Karl-Anthony Towns had last year (four). The 26 points Labissiere had against NJIT were also more than Towns or Nerlens Noel ever had at Lexington.

The difference is the Wildcats are much more reliant on Labissiere than other prospects in the past. Poythress and Lee will be useful, but neither possesses the inside scoring threat of the Haitian center. If Labissiere doesn't find more consistency, Kentucky could be in trouble.

Poor Outside Shooting

Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports

This doesn't seem like something that will change anytime soon. Kentucky is simply a poor outside shooting team, and the squad will have to deal with it.

Through 10 games, the Wildcats have hit just 27.6 percent of their shots, good for 334th in the country. Things haven't been any better over the past two games with just 25 percent of shots falling from beyond the arc.

Murray leads the way with 33.3 percent made shots from deep, but few players besides him and Ulis are even willing to let it fly from beyond the arc. As good as the team is at driving to the lane and finishing near the rim, eventually, there will be fewer openings as opponents stack the paint and force Kentucky to shoot over them. Any tightly packed zone could cause problems for this offense.

Although the poor shooting hasn't hurt Kentucky much this year, better teams will figure out ways to take advantage of it.

Road Troubles?

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One game could be an accident, but we haven't seen enough to know whether Kentucky's struggles on the road could be a trend.

So far, the Wildcats have played one game in a true road environment, and the result was an 87-77 loss to UCLA where the Bruins controlled most of the second half. Kentucky's young, inexperienced roster seemed overmatched at times while struggling to focus on both ends of the court.

Kentucky does have a strong neutral-court victory against Duke and beat South Florida in Miami, but the best teams in college basketball find ways to win on another team's home court. There will be a number of tough challenges throughout the SEC, and this team has to show it can survive in a hostile environment.

Road struggles aren't something that will derail the season just yet, but it is certainly a concern to keep in mind with matchups at Kansas, Vanderbilt and others still on the schedule.

Questionable Passing

Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports

One would think a team with three point guards in the starting lineup would be excellent at moving the basketball. This has not been the case with Kentucky so far this season.

The team's 13.8 assists per game are often canceled by the 12.8 turnovers. The ratio of 1.08 is nothing to write home about, especially after 31 combined turnovers in the past two games.

Kentucky's offense is predicated on the dribble-drive, which sees a lot of individual attacking to the basket. However, the guards have struggled at times to find open men down low who can finish easy shots. Of course, the poor outside shooting also limits the amount of assists on open kick-outs to the perimeter.

In any case, the high turnover rate has been an issue for much of the season and could be a problem when points are at a premium against elite opponents. You can't waste possessions in high-level games, and until the Wildcats learn that, questions will remain on this end of the court.

Overworking Tyler Ulis?

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Despite his short stature at 5'9", Ulis is clearly one of the top point guards in the nation. He has incredible quickness and vision that allow him to get into the lane and find teammates for easy baskets, all while avoiding turnovers.

The only problem is Kentucky might be too reliant on him at this early stage of the season. Ulis has played 38, 39 and 40 minutes in the last three games and is averaging 36.9 per game in contests he starts and finishes.

While there are certainly players who can handle this type of workload, Ulis has struggled with his shooting lately, making just eight of 33 shots (24.2 percent) from the field in the past three games. He also is making just 27.8 percent of his three-pointers in this stretch.

It is unclear if fatigue is a primary reason for the struggles, but it certainly can't help. As the season continues, the extra work could only cause more problems for the sophomore.

Head coach John Calipari might not trust Briscoe or Murray to run the point yet, but he needs to find ways to get Ulis some rest before he gets worn down during the SEC season.

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