One thing about this Kentucky basketball season so far? You really just never know what to expect.
Lately, it’s been the Denzel Aberdeen, Collin Chandler, and Otega Oweh show. But beyond that, almost every night, a different player steps up — including the puzzling case of Andrija Jelavic, a guy who bounces from starter to bench and back again with little consistency.
Jelavic shines when used inside
Take the South Carolina game as an example. Mark Pope clearly sees Jelavic as a shooter who can space the floor, but the results tell a different story. Jelavic is much more effective in the mid- and low-post or as an active cutter. He can screen, but sometimes he rushes it, like when he got called for a moving screen against Otega Oweh’s defender.
Early in the game, Jelavic had three wide-open 3-pointers — and missed all of them. His first basket came inside, followed by two more paint scores before halftime. After a nine-minute stint on the bench, he returned with 4:22 left in the half and immediately added two more inside points, finishing the half with six points. He eventually hit a 3-pointer in the second half but ended 1-for-6 from deep. Overall, he went 5-for-10 from the field, perfect 4-for-4 inside the arc, and even threw down a beautiful alley-oop for his 11th point.
Yet despite that efficiency, Jelavic spent key stretches on the bench — a trend that has followed him all season. Between December 13 and January 9, he played just seven minutes, then suddenly logged 17 minutes against Mississippi State.
Stop forcing the stretch-4 experiment
Mark Pope may point to the plus/minus — Jelavic was the only Kentucky player in the negative against South Carolina. But sometimes, watching the game tells you more than a stat line.
If Kentucky wants easier scoring opportunities, it’s time to end the stretch-4 experiment. Put Jelavic on the block, let him go to work inside, and consider running small-ball with him at the 5 alongside Dioubate for rebounding help.
The numbers back it up: take away his 3-point attempts, and Jelavic is 41-for-61 on the season — 67 percent from inside the arc. For a team struggling for consistent offense in SEC play, that’s a stat that demands attention.
Maybe Pope is looking at the wrong analytics. Sometimes, the simplest solution is the most effective: let Andrija Jelavic play to his strengths.
