Jaxson Robinson (Vicky Graff Photo)
It’s only the first week of December but for Kentucky men’s basketball is a week full of opportunity.
Kentucky plays at Clemson Tuesday night and then takes on Gonzaga in Seattle.
Pope said wins over Western Kentucky and Georgia State were “great learning games” for his team.
“The data we are bringing in is so good and our guys are experiencing things together so good,” said after the Georgia State win Friday. “Next week is our first true road game (at Clemson). Really, it’s going to be essentially our first true road games against elite level talent.
“Both insanely physical teams. Clemson incredibly physical. Gonzaga, I know Gonzaga well. We been messing with them for a long time and coach (Mark) Few is probably the best in college basketball or close to it, I don’t know how to rate them. Gonzaga is always insanely physical and part of their team that people miss sometimes.
“It’s something, we are going into a combat week where it’s going to be a massively physical game. Tuesday and whenever, Saturday or Friday or whatever it is. We are excited about it. We will learn more about our team.”
Pope said not to doubt that the team’s job is to “go win” both games and he says both good and bad times on the road can bring a team together.
“Tonight was brilliant because our guys kept leaning into each other. As long as we do that, wins are going to bring us closer together. Tough times are going to bring us closer together. Fights are going to bring us closer together. Huge massive scoring runs are going to bring us closer together. It’s how we deal with those situations and our guys are doing a great job leaning into each other,” Pope said Friday night. “It’s fun and it makes the locker room really fun.
“These guys are working hard. You’ve got some guys that are sick and some guys that are hurt and a couple guys out. The guys are still fighting to lean into each other and bring joy for each other. It’s really every day. We just don’t have enough time. We want to put as many, squeeze as many moments in as we can where we can lean on each other through all the stuff because that’s actually where we get close.”
7 Responses
We won’t lose the whole season of promise if we lose one or both of these next two games. But, oh my, if we win them both!!!!!!
These two upcoming games are yardsticks to measure what needs to be done to be ready for SEC play. Then a cupcake game before the Louisville and Ohio State games to see if adjustments have been made. We need a few more rock fights because SEC play will be one continuous rock fight.
I think we beat Clemson by 10 and lose to Gonzaga by 7. Its going to be very hard to beat Gonzaga out west with a 10 pm start time. Our guys will be more tired than theres.
We are 4th in the AP poll and 6th in the Coaches’ poll. Coaches always dis us but it could be due to our soft schedule so far.
Zags game will be 7:00 PM Kentucky time but travel time there is always a factor. Traveling east is a bitch and will take a couple days to recover especially after a hard fought game. Sure would be nice to get a W @ Clemson.
10:00 PM start time means a 1:00 AM Kentucky time. Not only will they be tired from traveling, but they’ll be messing with their REM time.
I think both games are going to be tossups, based on officiating. I believe Clemson will be the loss and we handle the zags by 5.