One definitive area of consistency for Kentucky over the past month has been the swarming defense of freshman point guard Ashton Hagans. Most notably, he had an eight-steal performance at the United Center against North Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic.
The ball pressure that Hagans forces on opponents, for the most part, cannot fully be measured within the stat sheet. The amount of energy and effort that it takes the opposing point guard to run his team’s offense is far greater than when there is not that type of in your face defense. This showed on Saturday as Alabama became tired and nearly folded down the stretch.