One thing about this Kentucky Basketball season so far? You really just never know what to expect.
Here lately, it has been the Denzel Aberdeen, Collin Chandler, and Otega Oweh show. But beyond that, it seems to be a different player stepping up almost every single night.
And that includes the completely bizarre case of Andrija Jelavic, a guy who goes from a starter to a disappearing act, right back to a starter again.
Andrija Jelavic shines in limited minutes at South Carolina
Look at the South Carolina game. I know Mark Pope seems to think Jelavic is a great
shooter who can perfectly space the floor. But honestly? He is so much better operating in the mid- and low-post. Or being used as an active cutter. He can be a great screener, but he rushes things just a little too much. Exactly like you saw in Colombia when he was called for a moving screen when he ran right into Otega Oweh’s defender.
Against the Gamecocks, he had three wide-open 3-pointers early. And he missed every single one of them. He finally found his first basket playing inside the paint. Then? He subbed out for nine massive minutes of game action before coming back in with 4:22 to go in the half.
He immediately went on to make two more paint scores to finish with six first-half points.
He finally hit his first 3-pointer in the second half, but would finish the night an ugly 1 for 6 from deep. However, he was later found on a beautiful alley-oop for his 11th point, finishing the game 5/10 from the floor, meaning he was a perfect 4/4 from inside the arc.
But just like in the first half, and frankly, at times all season long, Jelavic found himself firmly planted on the bench when it mattered most. He subbed out with 13:24 to go in the second half and didn’t see the floor again.
Between December 13 and January 9th, the Croatian big man played just 7 minutes, and that was against Bellarmine. And then all of a sudden, he was right back in the lineup for Mississippi State and played 17 minutes.
Stop forcing the stretch 4 experiment
Now, Mark Pope is probably going to point straight to the plus/minus. Jelavic was literally the only player on Kentucky who finished Tuesday night in the negative.
But sometimes, you just have to watch the actual games.
If Kentucky wants to take full advantage of some incredibly easy scores, it should completely drop the stretch 4 experiment. Put Jelavic on the block. And let the big man go to work, even if it means playing him at the 5 at times with Dioubate at the 4 to aid in rebounding.
If you take away the 3-point attempts for Jelavic this year, he is 41/61 on the season. That is shooting 67%. Now that is a number that should make you stop and go, “Hmm, why isn’t he shooting more in the paint?”
For a team that has consistently struggled to find easy offense during SEC play, maybe putting a guy who shoots that incredibly well down low, actually down low, would make things a little easier on everyone else.
Maybe Mark Pope is just looking at the wrong analytics.
Drew Holbrook has been covering the Cats for over 10 years. In his free time, he enjoys downtime with his family and Premier League soccer. You can find him on X here. Micah 7:7. #UptheAlbion
