When Kentucky plays away from Rupp Arena, Mark Pope typically has company during his postgame press conference. The two stars of the game will sit next to the head coach to take questions from the media. After the win at South Carolina, it was Mo Dioubate and Andrija Jelavic. One of those players sat on the bench for the final 14 minutes of the game.
Jelavic has been inconsistent throughout the year, but this was shaping up to be one of his best games as a Wildcat. That might be putting it lightly. At the time, he was the only one really giving Kentucky much at all offensively.
Jelavic went to the bench with 13:34 left on the game clock as the Cats led by two. He had 11 points, second only to Denzel Aberdeen, who had 14 at the time. They were the only two players on the Kentucky roster who had made a shot in 17 minutes.
Let me say that again. When Jelavic was subbed out of the game, he was one of only two Kentucky basketball players who had made a shot in 17 minutes of game time. Why didn’t he play again? There are two answers to that question.
What was Working for Jelavic
Jelavic has been inconsistent throughout his first year at Kentucky. He’s by no means a world-beater, but this game was tailor-made for him to have success because of the way South Carolina was defending. They weren’t going to let Otega Oweh drive to the basket off of ball screens.
“I think we definitely got a little bit surprised when they started blitzing us on the pick-and-roll from the very beginning, especially Otega and Denzel,” Jelavic said after the win. “We didn’t get the ball out fast enough, but we adapted to that really, really quick. And when we did, we did a short roll cut, and then everything opened for us.”
The South Carolina double teams on the ball screens gave the roll man a lane to the basket. Jelavic made the most of those opportunities, where he got four of his five made field goals. Kentucky has struggled to finish at the rim, but Jelavic’s length was undeterred by a South Carolina team that did not have a solid rim-protector.
A Reason Why He Didn’t Play
I cannot get inside Mark Pope’s head to understand his rationale for this move. This was not a question he was asked about in the postgame press conference, but Mo Dioubate likely had something to do with it.
Dioubate brought physicality to the four position and scored 10 of his 12 points after Jelavic exited the game. Kentucky needed some juice, and that’s what Dioubate provided.
Here’s another question: If those were your two best players, couldn’t you play them together?
I cannot recall a time in SEC play where Pope did not have Brandon Garrison or Malachi Moreno on the court. Against most SEC foes, it makes sense. Kentucky needs their size and rebounding. In that regard, the strategy worked. Kentucky out-rebounded South Carolina by 20 and turned 18 offensive rebounds into 14 second-chance points.
Kentucky got the result it needed. There might not be another similar situation this year that calls for Jelavic and Dioubate to share the floor, but Jelavic was the second-best Cat on the court in an ugly game. For some strange reason, he didn’t get a chance to finish what he started.