With one regular-season game remaining, Saturday at Texas A&M, here are dark clouds and silver linings from Kentucky basketball's stretch run:
Dark cloud: Last Saturday, Kentucky was slow out of the gate against Florida, falling behind 18-6 at the 13:09 mark of the first half.
Silver lining: Kentucky rallied to win, 76-66.
Dark cloud: Tuesday night, Kentucky was slow out of the gate against Vanderbilt, falling behind 25-6 with 8:02 left in the first half.
Silver lining: Kentucky rallied to win, 73-67.
Dark cloud: In the first half of the last two games, Malik Monk has scored a combined 10 points _ three against Florida; seven against Vanderbilt.
Silver lining: In the second half of the last two games, Monk has scored a combined 50 points _ 30 against Florida; 20 against Vanderbilt.
Dark cloud: Kentucky shot 28.6 percent the first half against the Gators; 31 percent the first half against the Commodores.
Silver lining: Kentucky shot 64 percent the second half against the Gators; 57.7 percent the second half against the Commodores.
Dark cloud: Kentucky has not shot 50 percent in any of the 11 games since connecting on 58.3 percent of its shots in an 85-69 win over visiting South Carolina on Jan. 21.
Silver lining: Kentucky is 8-3 in those 11 games.
Dark cloud: On what turned out to be his Engagement Night, senior Derek Willis made just one field goal against Vanderbilt _ though it was a big one, putting UK ahead for the first time in the game, 59-57 with 4:46 remaining.
Silver lining: Willis didn't let his shooting affect the rest of the game, as proven by his eight rebounds.
Dark cloud: In its 20-point loss at Florida on Feb. 4, Kentucky was destroyed on the glass, 54-29.
Silver lining: Kentucky has not been outrebounded since. Seven straight games the Cats have won the glass, including by 18 in the rematch with the Gators.
Dark cloud: Isaiah Briscoe hasn't scored in double figures in the last four games and committed six turnovers in 23 minutes at Missouri. Plus, he injured his left thumb against Vanderbilt.
Silver lining: Briscoe played 31 minutes without committing a turnover against Vanderbilt, many of those minutes with tape around that injured thumb.
Dark cloud: De'Aaron Fox committed five turnovers in 26 minutes on Tuesday night.
Silver lining: It was Fox's first game back since missing the Florida game with a bruised knee. And it was the point guard's jumper with 2:13 left that put UK ahead for good 64-62.
Dark cloud: John Calipari has not been able to develop a reliable backup center. Isaac Humphries hasn't played double-digit minutes since the Georgia game at Rupp Arena on Jan. 31. Tai Wynyard hasn't appeared in a game since Feb. 7. Sacha Killeya-Jones hasn't appeared in a game since Jan. 21.
Silver lining: Starting center Bam Adebayo is easily playing his best basketball of the season. The freshman had consecutive double-doubles against Missouri (22 points, 15 rebounds) and Florida (18 points, 15 rebounds), then made eight of 10 free throws against Vanderbilt. He's also committed just 11 fouls in his last five games.
Dark cloud: A constant worry about this Kentucky team is whether it is in fact good enough on defense to compete for a national championship.
Silver lining: The Cats have held five of their last six opponents to under 1.0 points per possession (that's good), and as of Wednesday morning were ranked 11th by kenpom.com in defensive efficiency. Each of the last seven national champions ranked 15th or better in that category.
Dark cloud: As March arrives, surely the Cats can't continue to play with fire (these slow starts) and not eventually get burned.
Silver lining: In the words of Isaiah Briscoe, "We're learning how to win."
