Kentucky will be prioritizing pace on offense this season

The Wildcats want to really get up and down the court.

Oct 11, 2024; Lexington, KY, USA; Kentucky Wildcats guard Koby Brea (4) smiles as the team warms up during Big Blue Madness at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images / Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

Kentucky basketball is gearing up to begin their season in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, head coach Mark Pope and players made their way down to Birmingham for SEC Media Day on Tuesday to preview the upcoming season. There were plenty of key talking points, and one of those is pace of play.

By now, Kentucky fans know how this team is wanting to play on offense, and that's fast-paced with a lot of threes. Pope went way more in depth on just how important it is in his system to play fast, especially keying in on a fast pace in the half-court.

"Tempo is really important to us. We talk about pace, space, and extra pass, and we're really keying in on the thrust of the game. Kind of that initial thrust of the game, and then across half-court. We also talk a lot about pace in the half-court. Even on dead balls when you walk it up. Igniting pass in the half-court is incredibly important to us.

- Pope on half-court pace.

Not only just in the half-court, but Pope wants to keep the ball moving as much as possible. The Kentucky head coach wants to be one of the fastest teams in the country in terms of pace of play. A big part of pace is also the transition offense.

"We would like to stay squarely in the top third of the country, which is where we live. If we can get to the top six of the country, top seven of the country, that would be really important to us. I think good offense comes with pace, for sure. The low-hanging fruit on that is transition offense. The more interesting part of that is, the pace, if you're moving away from the ball, the start and finishing of cuts, kind of navigating the court where you're overloading certain sides. All of that is really important."

- Pope on pace in transition offense.

It's very clear by now the pace that this Kentucky team is wanting to play with every time they step on the floor, and Pope is pushing that narrative and making sure his players understand it too. That will certainly go hand-in-hand with wanting to shoot a lot of threes each game.