Kentucky Basketball: Wildcats Hindered by Lack of Size and Hustle

The Wildcats continued their recent struggles outside the confines of Rupp Arena on Tuesday, as they were handed their third road loss of the season against Alabama.

After finding itself down by as much as 20 points, Kentucky made a furious second half comeback, but ultimately came up just two points short.

With the exception of this late comeback, coach John Calipari may have trouble finding a silver lining to Tuesday's defeat. The Wildcats were outplayed in virtually every aspect of the game. They were out-rebounded, out-scored and generally out-hustled.

Junior Eloy Vargas became the game's early scapegoat, as he had what can only be described as one of the worst individual one-minute stretches in recent memory—giving up easy scores, turning the ball over and failing to rebound the ball defensively.

Calipari was noticeably upset by his performance, as he yelled at Vargas and gestured to the bench after calling a timeout. Vargas was subsequently relegated to riding the pine for the remainder of the game, while Kentucky continued to struggle down low.

"If you defend and rebound, I can leave you on the floor and let you work through stuff," explained Calipari before the game. "If you don't defend and rebound, I'm not leaving you on the floor. It's effort. Are you backing up? Are you getting out-toughed? Are you letting that guy grab the ball out of your hands? Then you don't deserve to play."

With its lack in size, Kentucky had no answer for Alabama's front-court duo of JaMychal Green and Tony Mitchell, who combined for 33 points and 18 rebounds.

The Wildcats' lack of size has actually presented a recurring problem in SEC play thus far. For instance, Georgia's tandem of Trey Thompkins and Jeremy Price combined for 27 points and 17 rebounds in their upset over Kentucky on January 8th.

With big man Enes Kanter now being ruled permanently ineligible, it is clear that post play will continue to be a problem throughout the remainder of the season. Senior Josh Harrellson has provided an unexpected boost to a thin team, but is more of a complementary player than a dominant front-court presence.

The Wildcats especially run into problems when Harrellson gets in foul trouble, or they are forced to match up against teams with more skilled post players, à la Georgia and Alabama.

If Kentucky hopes to contend for the SEC title, it will first need Vargas to become a consistent contributor. This means he will need to cut down on mental mistakes and become stronger around the basket.

Over the past six games, Vargas has averaged just seven minutes, one point and 1.5 rebounds per contest. Ideally, he should be able to come in and contribute 10 to 20 solid minutes a game, depending on the team's matchup situations and foul trouble at the time.

Yet unless Vargas can fulfill Calipari's requests of rebounding and good defense, the bench will likely remain his primary residence for the foreseeable future.

However, despite the obvious criticism laid at Vargas, Kentucky had many other problems that contributed to its second SEC loss. The team gave up too many open shots on defense, refused to move the ball around on offense and generally seemed timid about crashing the boards.

Each of these problems can ultimately be attributed to a lack of hustle. While Alabama may have viewed this game as its Super Bowl, Kentucky appeared to believe it was just another scrimmage.

Calipari warned against this sort of complacency when discussing Alabama before the game, stating that "if you're playing half-speed, you're going to get killed."

It should serve as no surprise then that Kentucky found itself down 20 points after seemingly playing at half-speed for the first 25 minutes.

If the Wildcats wish to compete in the SEC, they will first have to learn how to play at full-speed for a full 40 minutes each game. Otherwise, the team will continually find itself struggling against less talented, but more disciplined teams.

For more University of Kentucky news and analysis, follow me on Twitter @KYSportsBuzz.