Kentucky's defensive KenPom ranking is not in a good spot heading into the NCAA Tournament

Kentucky's defense could lead to an early exit in the NCAA Tournament.

It's no secret what the issues are for this Kentucky basketball team, and all of them are on the defensive side of the floor. 

Against Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament, the Wildcats were giving up wide-open threes, clean drives to the rim, and they couldn't get a defensive rebound. 

In the first half against Texas A&M the Aggies were making a bunch of threes as they went 8-16. In the second half, the Aggies slowed the game down to their pace and drove to the rim, and the Wildcats couldn't seem to stop the drives. 

After the loss to Texas A&M, Kentucky's KenPom ranking on the defensive side of the ball is 108th. Overall, the Wildcats are 19th in the KenPom rankings, and their offense is fifth overall, but the defense is the glaring issue. 

Shots aren't always going to fall, and when they don't fall, that is when you need sound defense to keep you in a basketball game. When you can't get consistent stops if the shots aren't falling, you are going to get behind, and then it's tough to get back in the game. 

This is what happened against Texas A&M, and the Wildcats were behind for what felt like the entire basketball game. 

With Kentucky's defensive KenPom number being where it is, the metrics aren't in favor of the Wildcats making a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. 

This Kentucky team needs to decide if they want to play defense with a lot of intensity because if they don't, an elite offense full of some incredible scorers will be wasted.