Jaxson Robinson (Vicky Graff Photo)
Mark Pope didn’t mince words about his team after Tuesday’s 82-69 loss at Georgia where the Bulldogs controlled the final 30 minutes of the game.
What about giving up 15 offensive rebounds for the second straight game?
“That’s a bell we got to ring. That’s just, it’s unacceptable for us, and it’s a sign of distraction,” Pope said.”There were so many uncharacteristic plays on the court tonight, and those are, for us as a deciding team, as a decision-making team, those are manifestations of some distraction. And us rooting that out and getting better at focusing on a moment, on the moment. — and exactly what’s happening — is the space where you, part of it is building habits. So we’re working on that really hard.”
Wait. Pope was just getting warmed up.
“Sometimes when you start on a project, you take 10 steps backwards before you make progress, and it feels like that’s what we’ve done. It’s almost like the more we talk about, the more we drill it, the more of a challenge it is. And that’s a nuanced conversation among the staff that we have to kind of figure out,” Pope said.
“But clearly that’s a major, major issue for us, is this glass, especially in a game that’s, as just slow paced as this is and holding the ball. Our ball-screen defense in the point of attack was so much better. It really kept us out of rotation. And then we, you know, we had so many possessions where we had guys taking really tough shots, and we either fouled them unnecessarily, or we didn’t come up with a rebound. And it wasn’t a rotation issue.
“So that’s one of the things where we have to figure out how we can, in that moment, where we can be insanely hyper-focused.”
What about Jaxson Robinson, expected to be UK’s best player, going 1-for-5 from the field, scoring only five points, grabbing just two rebounds and getting beat often on defense?
“It just is the ebb and flow of the game. That’s all it is. Jaxson’s been doing this for a long time. He’s a shot maker. The most important thing for Jaxson, for all our guys, is that we don’t actually carry that baggage around. We’re a free-shooting team, meaning that we don’t carry the outcome of makes and misses with us,” Pope said.
“We’re staying so hyper-focused on the parts of the game that are more controllable, and that’s an issue for all of our guys right now, you know, is us. … We’ve played two true road games, and both of them have been, you know, spaces where we’re a little distractible.
“And so that’s a mountain we got to climb. There’s no reason to hide from that. We get another chance on Saturday in a massive game (at Mississippi State), really challenging game. This game and this league is going to keep throwing challenges. We’ve got to go answer them.”
Any chance Kentucky was not focused on Georgia coming off a 106-100 win over Florida?
“I don’t know. I’m not sure how much to read into it. The cadence of the game was so different. The flow of the game, the challenge of the game, was so different. Some of the outcomes were the same, which is certainly disappointing,” Pope said. “But, that’s going to be, I don’t know if we’re going to have an actual answer to that.”
6 Responses
I had hoped with older guys that physicality would not be an issue, but these guys came from leagues for the most part that are not as physical as the SEC.
So true
We have make the easy baskets. We are constantly missing those. Its like they are expecting hard contact and lose focus
Think you are correct there. Missing shots at or near the basket has been going on all season. We have no Dogs on this team other than Oteh and sometimes he drifts off. These guys all said the same thing when coming on board and that is that they were all proud to wear the uniform and accepting of the spotlight and platform but apparently not so. They talk it but don’t really walk it. It is hard to have any confidence that will change anytime soon. Think we are being set-up for another L this weekend.
Andrew Carr, Otega Oweh & Brandon Garrison all have Power Conference experience and are much more willing than the others to initiate contact. They can lead the way for the rest and they still need to elevate to SEC levels of physicality. I’ll just blame the PAC-X for Robinson’s contact aversion.
As an aside, for a guy who isn’t swolt, Carr has an amazing base. Using his balance, he can both absorb and initiate contact very well for his frame. Williams is also good in this area but not ready for SEC physicality. Garrison is making great strides in playing off of two feet and using his base.
The next 3 games will tell us what we can expect for the rest of the season. For some reason the kids seem to think that Pope ball only works against the lesser teams, but they did play Pope ball against Florida and won. When we play hackers like Clemson, Ohio State, and Georgia we seem to quit when the refs don’t call things our way. We also seem to think that hero ball is the only way to compete against such teams. That is a state of mind that can be changed, but will it change? Miss State and A&M are going to be the worst of the hackers. If the starters fail to get off to a good start, Pope should bench them, all of them. We win as a team, not as individuals. As for defense and rebounding, that is a matter of pride and want to.
Miss State is not that good…seriously. They are hackers and will have the refs and crowd on their side. Kentucky teams rise above that. They have to get back to the motion offense and have to have the confidence to take those open shots and make them. When the refs are earning their "pay", you have to play more zone to stay out of foul trouble. The next 3 games are MUST WIN games if we are to have a respectable season. We will find out a lot about the character and DNA make up of this team in the next week.
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