Pope, Players Aren’t Worrying About 2024 Loss to Oakland

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At this time a year ago Kentucky fans were hoping for a big March Madness run. Instead, Kentucky got ousted by Oakland in a  huge first round upset and that eventually led to coach John Calipari leaving UK for Arkansas.

“Definitely watched that Kentucky/Oakland game, and we probably wouldn’t be here if that outcome wasn’t the way it was,” Kentucky forward Andrew Carr, a Wake Forest transfer, said Thursday. “So I think for all of us, we’re super excited to be here in the tournament and to show what we can do.”

Kentucky will play No. 14 see Troy tonight in Milwaukee and try to avoid the first-round disaster that hit UK two of the three previous seasons.

Center Amari Williams, a Drexel transfer, was already in the transfer portal when UK played Oakland but did watch “wishing you were in a position like that.”

Oklahoma also was not playing in the NCAA Tournament last year.

“I was just wishing, eventually I would be here. So I’m just glad and thankful that I’m here now,” Otega Oweh, UK’s leading scorer, said.

Guard Koby Brea was in Utah playing for Dayton in the NCAA but did watch the UK-Oakland game.

“It shows how teams show up, playing against Kentucky. It’s good being in this position and being on this side of their shoes and seeing what other teams will bring against us and understanding that we’ve got to be able to bring the best versions of ourselves,” Brea said Thursday. “And that’s something that we will do.”

Senior guard Lamont Butler was in Spokane playing a board game in the hotel when he watched Oakland triumph.

“That was a crazy game and we were just surprised of how it went, how (Jack) Gohlke was hitting every 3. But definitely glad to be here and hope that doesn’t happen to us,” Butler said.

Oweh said Kentucky fans don’t bring that loss up to this team since it is all new players with a new coach in Mark Pope.

“We weren’t there last year so we’ve got to be where our feet are and focus on what we’re doing this year and what we’ve got ahead of us,” Oweh said.  “Obviously, everybody knows what happened last year. But I think we’re hungry to go out there and just play. Regardless of what all the outside noise is saying about what happened, I think we’re just excited to go out there and play.”

Pope said Thursday he had spent “zero minutes” thinking about Oakland.

“One of the things that brings me and our team so much peace is we really believe God has plans for us. We really do. I don’t know exactly how all the levers get pulled and what part all that plays, but I just believe there’s plans for all of us. I really do. I’m a really faithful person that way. I really believe that,” Pope said.

“I’m not saying that our efforts are for naught. I’m just saying there’s plans for us. And we believe that. We believe that we’re all here together in this locker room for a reason. And the fun part is discovering why. We believe that we’re here at this NCAA Tournament for a reason. And the fun part for us is going to be to discover why. And that’s really important to us.”

Pope said there was no used thinking or worrying about the randomness that leads to huge upsets in March Madness.

“Our job is to be focused exactly on our job at hand. We all get distracted. We all do. But the best competitors are guys that manage to take most of their energy and focus on the job at hand. And we have a massive task at hand Friday night. We know it. We’re excited about it,” Pope said.