Mark Pope on a Salty Lee Anne Pope and Broken Cufflinks

Vicky Graff Photo

Only Mark Pope could manage to talk about his “salty” wife and a broken cufflink during his postgame press conference after a win but that’s what he did Friday night.

First, the salty wife.

Kentucky and Georgia State players got into a bit of a scuffle in the second half and Pope actually came on the court. He pulled a Georgia State player away from the scuffle to help de-escalate the situation.

“I was a little slow out there. I was a little nervous about pulling a hammy, but if I’m being clear, I probably shouldn’t be so transparent.  I raced out there and, you know, you are always trying to just remove people from the fray.  I grabbed one of the Georgia state players that was kind of jumping in late and my next reaction was ‘where is (my wife) Lee Anne,’” the UK coach said.

“I’m telling you, at one point she could be running on the floor knocking someone out and I’m like, I cannot have that.  That was actually my second thing.  I got this thing taken care of. Make sure Lee Anne is under control over there.  This was – was it your favorite game so far?  Lee Anne loves it when it gets salty.  It’s like get em.”

Next the broken cufflink story.

Who could have seen that coming when Pope said he wanted to comment on the referees after the physical game.

“Really disturbing.  My cufflink broke.  I love wearing cufflinks, it makes me feel nostalgic, like New York in the 60s, I don’t know,” Pope smiled and said. “To me it’s like you have big eyes, where is he talking about, where’s it going. My cufflink broke, I didn’t know it, okay?  

“The referee is running down the court and he said, ‘Coach, your cufflink broke and it’s on the floor.’ These guys see everything. Kudos to the referees for seeing everything.  They’ve got a really, really hard job but they do it well.”