Vicky Graff Photo
Mark Pope knows how to push all the right buttons.
I always thought former Kentucky coach Rick Pitino was the best I had seen at knowing how to manage players. But Pope, who played for Pitino, obviously learned his lessons well.
Kentucky got a huge 77-72 comeback win over Duke Tuesday. Many coaches would have enjoyed the attention of a postgame press conference after a huge upset win.
Pope, though, let senior Andrew Carr take the spotlight because he was a huge reason UK won with his overall play.
Pope brought Carr and Otega Oweh, who was huge in the second half, to the postgame press conference with him. But instead of Pope giving the opening remarks — standard procedure for almost every press conference — he let Carr, who scored 17 points, do the honors.
“All the Kentucky fans who showed up tonight, it was an incredible atmosphere. It’s called Catlanta for a reason. It was really special for us out there,” said Carr, who was 2-2 in games against Duke when he played at Wake Forest. “It was an unbelievable game, a true team effort.
“I felt like it was really special for us. Not everything was going our way, especially in the first half. Coming in at halftime, Coach always talks about turning into each other and the people that matter, the people in the locker room. The closer we get, it’s harder and harder to break us. I felt like we did an unbelievable job being resilient tonight and in a really special way to come out with a win.”
25 Responses
I loved every second of it. Experience won this game for us. no more falling apart at the end of a game in close games. We never panicked and just kept running our offense. Halfway through the second half duke started looking tired. Cooper Flagg is the real deal but he couldn’t beat us on his own. Him and Kenipple I know that’s not how you spell it but that’s how I spell it. At the end of the game Cooper tried to put duke on his back and he had like 3 straight turnovers. Oweh came up clutch at the end of the game. Hitting those free throws he has ice water in his veins. Then he makes a great hustle move and comes up with the offensive rebound over Flagg. I’m so excited about this years team. I think we finish in the top 3 in the SEC. They were saying we were the 8th best team in the SEC. If we are the 8th best teeam then I’d love to see Alabama play Duke. I think Alabama would win but I don’t think they are that much better than us. What’s crazy is that we did all this without one of the best players on the team hardly even scoring. Robinson was shut down and we still won. It shows how deep we really are. I think Kentucky Alabama Auburn and Tennessee are my top 4 SEC teams in no order. Then outside of these 4 you have Arkansas Texas A&M and Texas. In no particular order. The SEC is stacked from top to bottom. Whoever wins the SEC will probably have 4 or more losses. Just be ready for a roller coaster conference slate. Lets buckle up and get ready for the ride.!?
Ride Captain Ride!!
It wasn’t an actual trade but swapping king CALcified for Captain Pope might go down as one of the most lopsided trades in sports history.
Was the stage too big for Mr. Robinson? When he missed 2 of first 3 FT’s I got a little nervous. Take away the two bone headed 3 point fouls the margin could have been much bigger. I never expected us taking full control of the last quarter, and Puke did have the less conditioned team.
What a marvelous refreshing experience for the BBN to be recognized and appreciated – thanks to Coach Mark Pope – by letting one of the key players start the post game interview.
UK BB is back!!! It is front & center stage!!
No ego-maniac rambling with aborted phrases & incomprehensible broken sentences after showcasing his pets in a loss.
What a comeback!!!
What a win! A Calipari coached team would have folded like a lawn chair. Pope pushed the right buttons and got the win. We did get exposed in a number of areas, but we have 4 more games to get better in those areas. The talking heads will call this win a fluke. Beating Clemson and Gonzaga will silence the doubters/haters. Watching Kentucky basketball is fun again. Thank you Fayetteville for making this happen!
I agree! Cal would have just played his favorite players and took the loss.
Kentucky”s depth and 10 man rotation won the game down the stretch.
I love this team.
I am so pleased for Coach Pope.
A big DITTO!
Nice to hear from you professor. We owe a debt of gratitude to Fayetteville for doing what Barnhart would not do. Pope was my first choice to replace the FRAUD. Barnhart did his best to try and F that up, but the basketball gods intervened, and we got the right man for the job. Football is regressing and dying a slow death. I am so relieved that basketball season is here and the 2024/25 season is going to be one for the record books. Enjoy professor!
Hello Prof, hope all is well. Good to see UK lookin’ like Cats of old…..Riley
Coach Pope wants alienate nobody.. big difference
I am so happy with this win. And even though we trailed through most of the game, and the first half looked pretty bad, I observed the demeanor of Coach Pope and the team. No one looked flustered, just doing their job. Calm and cool. Not a defeatist look on anyone! Flagg is a great player; but he is a freshman and one freshman can’t beat the Kentucky Wildcats.
How very proud I am of this team and Coach. Good luck with the next game and the next game and and and . . . GO CATS!
" No one player can beat us, shut down the other 4." Coarch Adolf Rupp talking to team about LSU’s Pistol Pete.
I love coach pope and these players he’s assembled I really hope they have a great season and postseason I don’t think I’ve been more excited about a team since the Anthony Davis lead wildcats I know beating duke doesn’t mean we’re are going to be the best team ever ,but dam it sure feels good to beat duke . I take my hat off to duke they are great team an copper Flagg that kid will be spacial go bbn
Beating Duke is always a good thing Warrren
Loved Cal but everyone has a time to go, he was just long overdue. Coach Pope will be one of the best among great UK ExCoaches. Go Cats!!!
Was on leave to Kentucky over the Veterans Day weekend and went to the Bucknell game. When I got back to work on Tuesday on Fort Liberty, NC, I told everyone that was talking trash about how Duke was going to embarrass UK that night that they were going to see the CATS win by 4… and my CATS won by 5!!!! Now, if we could only get an AAC school to rescue us from the incompetent Stoops, who can’t beat SEC teams nor manage a clock for the life of him.
Way to tell them Colonel. Bless you for your service
I meant ACC, not AAC! lol BTW, I graduated from UK and bleed blue until the day I die! There is only one school who I root for. I refuse to root for another SEC school if UK gets knocked out in the tournament. Coach Pope has no pets; he is all about brotherhood, team, and winning championships! I love him!
I meant ACC! lol BTW, I graduated from UK and bleed blue until the day I die! There is only one school who I root for. I refuse to root for another SEC school if UK gets knocked out in the tournament. Coach Pope has no pets; he is all about brotherhood, team, and winning championships! I love him!
Mark Pope’s intellect and his basketball acumen will help win games for us this year. The guys are such great players And close teammates that their skills, coupled with Mark Pope’s coaching, will win many close games for us. And, to hear Mark Pope talk in complete and comprehensible sentences is a striking and refreshing contrast to cal’s inability to formulate any good sentence. How enjoyable!
Fun watching the dUKe game. Nice to watch experience and knowing we are not the NBA farm club. Pope has UK ties, Cal did not……I have always believed that makes a difference, exception Rick P.
This season should be one for the books !!!!
With you on that SeattleKat
Congrats Coach Pope and CATS on a huge early-season win! Any wins over DUKE are ALWAYS something to celebrate, and Coach earned some early KY-head-coaching-independence with this win! I think the majority of the country didn’t give us a chance, and that makes it feel even better, and especially showing off some COMEBACK-CATS-DNA in doing so as well!!! The way this team responded and stayed together when down definitely brought back some shades of the COMEBACK CATS era for me, for sure. Reminded me a lot of the way that 1998 team never quit believing in themselves no matter what circumstances they were in, and the same with Pope–he has a little bit of TUBBY-esque going on in terms of that as well–hes the kind of coach who is never going to quit believing in his guys and in his philosophy. And it’s because his philosophies are the RIGHT ones—win or lose. I’ll be honest–I DID NOT think this team was going to be ready for this yet, this early, and I wasn’t going to be upset had that been the case. And then especially the way the game played out–i wasn’t real shocked that we were down consistently 7,8, 9 early……I was a bit disappointed and concerned about the way Robinson got shut down, because I am a very big fan of that kid–i have looked at him as kind of a savior for Pope’s first team, and as someone this team would need to be their leader–and he and they still have the whole season ahead to figure all of that out! That’s the good news—that our "star" gets really held down, and we still come back and win that game–if u had asked me beforehand could we win that game without Robinson being much of a contributor, I would have said "no way". But that may be one of the early lessons Abt this team: that there may not necessarily be a particular "star"–that we could have multiple stars, or multiple leaders–it could be different guys different games–and I think that it will be–and that is a great thing! Thats the true definition of "TEAM". And again, why it reminds me a lot of the 1998 COMEBACK CATS–that team was much the same way. This team and the coach have already surprised me early, and as I said, Pope almost earned himself some "house-money" for awhile with that win. They definitely showed what they are capable of, and what they are capable of becoming later on too–u gotta hope they continue to get better as the season goes on. One thing I love about it is the fact that the thing that was getting us beat in games like this for YEARS under CAL is what got us the win under POPE: EXPERIENCE > FRESHMAN TALENT. No way in hell CAL wins this game were he still here with the group he has now at ARK–they probably would have lost that by 20. We may not necessarily have some of the same individual athleticism and raw talent as some of the guys like CAL has, and that DUKE has–but the one thing we do have now that I will put my faith and trust in every single time, ESPECIALLY ON FEB 1ST–is the INTELLIGENCE, the bball SMARTS, and the bball IQ from both coach and players—buddy, I will put Pope’s natural smarts, intelligence, and knowledge of the game up against CAL’s scatter-brained shit show ANY DAY OF THE WEEK, AND TWICE ON SUNDAYS!!! Coach Pope, thank you for more than just a great bball victory over a program that we all hate equally–thank you for bringing back TO US AND FOR US, what the previous coach TOOK AWAY FROM US, and tossed out in the trash: KENTUCKY. Thank you for putting the BLOOD back in the BLUE again, and thank you for proving that in 2024 u can still MAKE KENTUCKY BE ABOUT KENTUCKY AND STILL WIN—Thank you for showing that it doesn’t require getting the top 5 high school players from every single class that can all be classified NBA-draft-pick ready to be able to win at KENTUCKY—thank you for showing us that it can be about MORE than that, and that IT IS MORE THAN THAT!!!!
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