Kentucky's defense needs to show up when they face Clemson and Gonzaga this week

Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats have a massive week with two Quad 1 games.

Nov 26, 2024; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Kentucky Wildcats guard Lamont Butler (1) is helped to his feet during the second half against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images / Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats have their biggest week of the season coming up with games against Clemson and Gonzaga. The matchup with Clemson is an on-campus road game, while the Gonzaga matchup is in Seattle but not on Gonzaga's campus.

This all adds up to the most challenging stretch of games Kentucky has seen early into the 2024-25 season. This team has been incredibly impressive early into the year, but they haven't played many games where the crowd is against them, but that will be the case twice this week.

Kentucky hasn't been shooting the three-ball all that well these last two games, so they need to find a way for them to fall this week. If the threes do not fall, the Wildcats will have to rely on defense. Even if the shots are falling, this team needs to defend well.

The way Kentucky plays, they will have some games where the threes aren't falling, and when this happens, they need to lock down on defense to keep within striking distance. The Wildcats can go on a 10-0 run in the blink of an eye, so if the defense keeps games close, they are going to have a great year.

Lamont Butler, Otega Oweh, and Amari Williams are the players Kentucky needs to see lockdown on defense as they are the Wildcat's best defenders. All of these guys have played well on this end of the floor early into the season. If Kentucky plays good defense, this team is more than capable of going 2-0 this week in two Quad 1 games.