Quick 2026-27 thoughts on Kentucky men's hoops

Sean Vinsel

— 2 min read
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Hey all, I wanted to blog about this edition of the Kentucky Wildcats before too much of the season goes by. These are a few thoughts based on 1) the roster and 2) the opener + exhibition performances.

  1. Can they get defensive rebounds? Kentucky comes into the season with a hole at power forward. The brief Mark Mitchell Era might have solved that, but the Cats are rolling with Ousmane N'Diaye and Justin McBride. Given what UK has at other positions, the power forward doesn't need to be a major scoring threat. They will need to rebound the defensive glass, however. Malachi Moreno has looked good on the glass, but he's not the type of generational rebounder to single-handedly carry a team like Oscar Tshiebwe was. Nobody in the backcourt or at SF has shown themselves to be a significant rebounder. Last season, UK was 158th nationally in defensive rebounding rate. Prior to that, however, Mark Pope had 6 straight years (UK and BYU) where his teams never finished worse than 35th nationally. Can the coaching staff work magic on a team without elite rebounders?
  2. Will we see Moreno & McBride together? Ousmane N'Diaye has been pretty uneven so far. He has a lot of length and moves well, but he's more willing than he is accurate from deep and hasn't flashed any signature skills. McBride showed off some shooting chops last season (41% from deep, 78% on FTs) and rebounded well, but is stepping up significantly from the Sun Belt to the SEC. I can't speak on what each has shown in practice, but McBride only played 5 possessions alongside Moreno against Manhattan. I'd like to see how that duo produces.
  3. Dominating the rim against Manhattan: It was only 1 game and was against a bad team, but Kentucky was sensational around the rim on offense and defense. BartTorvik.com has some wonderful shot charts, and on "close 2 pointers" (basically layups, dunks, and the like) Kentucky shot 82% and allowed 47%.

The Wildcats surpassed 80% on close 2's 3 times in 2026 and 5 times in 2025, and both seasons the Cats ranked in the top 30 nationally in FG% on close 2's. I wouldn't be surprised if they do something similar. The defense is more surprising, however. In 2025, UK ranked a stinky 336th in FG% allowed on close 2's and held 3 opponents all season under 50% at the rim. In 2026, UK improved to a decent 138th and held opponents under 50% at the rim 12 times. If UK's defense is at the same level as last season and the offense approaches the 2025 team, this team can be a top-4 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

  1. James Madison will test UK's bigs on defense: Last season, Malachi Moreno had some struggles when defending out to the three point line. He wasn't able to close out effectively, and often looked lost when put into space. This season, I have liked his defense in pick and roll as well as the cohesive rotation of the Wildcats in general. James Madison will test this by having their screeners pop out to the three point line and fire away. Every player who played more than 1 minute in the opener for JMU took at least 2 threes, and both 6'11" Garrent Sundra and 6'8" Preston Fowler took more threes than twos last year. Moreno, N'Diaye, and the rest of UK's frontcourt needs to be prepared to defend out on the floor more than they did against Manhattan.

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