SEC Coach: ‘Every night is a war in this league’

Physical play is the norm in the SEC. (Vicky Graff Photo)

It wasn’t hard for Kentucky coach Mark Pope to explain why Koby Brea had trouble getting open looks against Texas in Saturday night’s loss.

“They were really physical. The physicality of the game on grabbing and holding cutters is pretty extraordinary,” Pope said on his postgame radio show. “Sometimes you have to keep fighting.

“It doesn’t matter how much you are being held and fouled. You have to fight through cuts the whole game. They were incredibly physical and kind of kept Koby in check.”

Brea went 0-for-6 from the field, including 0-for-4 from 3 where he is considered one of the nation’s best shooters. Not only that, freshman Trent Noah did not score in the second half after getting seven points in the first half.”

Physical play is the norm in SEC basketball this year. Forty-five fouls were called in the UK-Texas game and every team wants to play physically. Games take a toll physically on players and teams.

“Every night is a war in this league this year,” one SEC coach told me late Saturday night. “That’s why there are so many injuries because SEC basketball is played like SEC football now. The hits never stop.”

Pope has not complained about play being too physical. Kentucky was coming off a win over Tennessee, one of the league’s most physical teams. However, UK had point guard Lamont Butler for the first 31 minutes of that game before he reinjured his shoulder. He did not play at Texas and neither did Jaxson Robinson, who also missed the Tennessee game.

“I don’t think we had an emotional letdown at all (after Tennessee),” Pope said. “I think the guys came to battle. I think we knew what we were up against. I think our guys were really fixed on the challenge. I felt like our emotional energy was great the whole night.

“I thought our guys were here to compete and fight. I thought we had guys step up and make important plays. I’m really actually proud of our guys’ effort, for sure. Our execution stunk, in the last four minutes, absolutely, on both sides of the ball. And really it wasn’t even our execution, it was partly our execution, but our present-ness was poor.”