Archie Goodwin has been La Famila's leading scorer in TBT play. (TBT Photo)
Maybe it was not an “official” scrimmage but Kentucky coach Mark Pope admitted Monday he was “grateful” for the chance his team has had to practice and scrimmage against La Familia, UK’s alumni team playing in The Basketball Tournament (TBT) at Memorial Coliseum.
Pope’s first UK team did the same thing last summer and got to play against older, more experienced players who had professional experience.
“It just puts you in an environment where, I don’t know if any of the data is real, but it just gives you the vibe of it. Gives you some direction for these eight weeks (of summer practice),” Pope said Monday. “I wish we could play a game every week.”
Pope has been pushing the NCAA for a 40-game regular-season schedule. The NCAA increased the limit from 31 to 32 recently.
“Let’s keep pushing. I would love it if we could sprinkle a couple games in this eight-week summer session. I know not every team is using the same eight weeks. I know a lot of guys have different groupings on the floor, but, but that’s fine,” the Kentucky coach said. “Let us work around. Let’s go find other teams that have a similar eight-week schedule, and let’s go.
“Let’s go play a couple games because it helps your guys learn, it helps your team grow. Ultimately the goal of this whole thing is how fast can we grow? How much can we grow? How much better can we get? And so in lieu of that opportunity that I hope is going to be real next summer, we’ll take this TBT, and our guys have been great.”
Pope said it’s “great” to compete in a real-game setting with real minutes and real stats. He also likes playing against former Kentucky players
“I think it was fun to see the relationship that’s been built over a very short time between these former players and our current players. And that is important. That’s part of what makes Kentucky so special,” Pope said.
Pope recently went to watch NBA summer league games to support UK players on last year’s team trying to earn a spot in the NBA. He wants to continue to build relationships between former and current players and calls that a “very important part” of the Kentucky experience.
That’s why it is no surprise that current UK players Otega Oweh, Jaland Lowe, Jayden Quaintance, Malachi Moreno, Denzel Aberdeen, Braydon Hawthorne, Reece Potter, and Mo Dioubate have been at the first two TBT games and likely will be at tonight’s regional final in Memorial Coliseum.
Fans have asked for photos and autographs of both current players and former players, another way Pope knows can only unite the UK fanbase even more.
When La Familia got a game-winning score from Archie Goodwin Sunday it touched off a rare court celebration by UK basketball players. Not only did La Familia players enjoy the dog-pile celebration but current UK players rushed the court to join the fun.
“I think I speak for all of us when I say we really appreciate it,” Goodwin said about the UK fan support” You can see it in the energy from our team, on the bench, from the guys on the court. We really appreciate it.
“We stayed after, talked to the fans, signed autographs, because we just wanted to show our appreciation for the support they give us, even some of us who haven’t been back in 10 plus years.”
One Response
Playing Purdue and Georgetown in exhibition games should test us and reveal what is clicking and what needs work.