Vicky Graff Photo
Kentucky coach Mark Pope has enjoyed watching his team come together during exhibition wins over Kentucky Wesleyan and Minnesota State.
“It’s been fun to watch pieces work together,” Pope said Thursday. “Even in the two exhibitions where we just need to grow right now, that’s super important to us (and it) gives us some data points.”
Some of the early data has shown that the Wildcats have the ability to shoot the ball — 34 3-pointers in two games — and produce massive scoring runs. In the win over Minnesota State earlier this week, Kentucky scored 17 straight that led to the decisive blowout over the Mavericks.
“We hope that’s a defining feature of our team,” Pope said. “And two things about it. One is the first part of that: our guys are super resilient and we have a team that can go fix things. We’re a veteran team, we see the game, we understand the game, we can go fix things. Then the second part is we know it’s always coming.”
Pope often falls back on long-time NBA coach George Karl’s philosophy when it comes to overcoming shooting obstacles during any given time.
“I thought he was brilliant at not being a scoreboard watcher, but being an energy reader,” Pope said. “… This idea of like knowing the energy is right in this building. We’re going to fix some things and then this is going to be a big-time run. Come in and let’s go. Let’s go.”
Going into the team’s season-opener against Wright State set for Monday, Pope said his players are in the right frame of mind and eager to get the season underway.
“We have guys that are humble and curious, want to be good, and want to get better,” the Kentucky coach said. “We’re going to absorb a bunch of frustration for sure, and we take some shots, too, from time to time. But I think it’s a good group, and I think it’s a group that has some resilience.”
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WILLIAMS UPDATE
Pope provided an update on Amari Williams, who suffered an undisclosed leg injury in the team’s final exhibition game earlier this week. he said preliminary “imaging was really good and positive.”
“He won’t do anything, you know, just do free throws today,” Pope said. “We’re hopeful that he’ll be back soon, but we’ll kind of proceed with all the caution and urgency that we possibly can.”
Williams is currently listed as day-to-day.
“We’ll kind of proceed with all the caution and urgency that we possibly can,” Pope said.
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Gametracker: Wright State at Kentucky, 7 p.m., Monday. TV/Radio: ESPNU, UK Radio Network.
4 Responses
Ready for it
The fans are enjoying this assembly of living lightening parts just as coach Pope is having fun.
The Shark-Feeding-Frenzy will remind us of 1996 and opponents will struggle to simulate it in practice preparing to play UK because…
BECAUSE…
The UK D will look like a professional extremely well-organized hit squad randomly going wild without any apparent plan.
And that’s when the destruction takes place, surprising the opponent all over the court.
I am not sure what was involved with Williams leaving the Mankato game…I am surprised at how little has been said about it. If he is hurt, say so and give him treatment and rest. Don’t bring him back until he is ready to get back in the gym and be competitive. Duke has a huge frontcourt and without Williams, it could get ugly quick, but Him being ready to contribute again in SEC play is far more valuable than our early games. It would be nice to be at or near full strength for the Clemson game, which him being day to day should allow for, but we can hold off on kicking Duke’s ass until we get in the Dance. If we get beat badly tonight in Knoxville, maybe Dieon Walker should flip over to basketball until Williams is back.
Pope signed Lewis and that means we are the leader for Wilson as well. If Pope can get Cennac as well and pick up a small forward, he will be crowned the 2025 recruiting king.