Mark Pope: It’s Not Going To Get Easier

Vicky Graff Photo

Is there any way for Kentucky to take any positives out of Tuesday’s loss to Ole Miss when it was once down by 27 points before eventually losing 98-84 to drop to 4-5 in Southeastern Conference play?

“Come on, this is Kentucky. We don’t do moral victories at all. But, we also will try and build on things that we do well,” Kentucky coach Mark Pope said after the game.

“I thought we had some pace in the second half. It was much better, and we did it by sharing the ball. Ole Miss missed a couple shots for us, and so we got to get out in transition. That’s really important. After a make or a miss, we’ve got to find our way back into transition, that’s really important for us. So that was a positive.”

Was that it?

“We probably went through our whole playbook of different defensive options. It’s hard to take too much because you’re nursing a lead and so (Ole Miss) plays different, but at least we got some reps doing different things. We’ll get better at those. We’ll grow there,” Pope said.

“We have a resilient group and a group that cares and this was one of those nights where you could just kind of have walked away, and our guys didn’t do that. That’s clearly a standard that we’ll never accept dipping below, but nonetheless I’m proud of the guys for that.”

Again, when not giving up after being down 27 points is the big positive for Kentucky, it’s been a bad night no matter how Pope spins it and he knows it.

“It’s hard to find positives, but there are certainly some. We’ll continue to expound on the things the guys did well. We’re in a tough spot right now as a team, and we’re searching for answers. It’s not going to get easier,” Pope said.

“This is the job. I’m glad I get to do this with these guys and we’re going to go find answers and we’re going to have unbelievable success as we go. But this is certainly a hard space for us right now.”