Pope Says Ohio State Was Most Painful Loss Last Season

Jaxson Robinson keyed a huge comeback win over Gonzaga but UK was no match for Ohio State last season, a loss that still bothers coach Mark Pope. (UK Athletics Photo)

Which one of Kentucky’s 12 losses hurt coach Mark Pope the most last season?

The answer might surprise you because it was not the home court loss to coach John Calipari and Arkansas or the NCAA Tournament loss to Tennessee. No, it was the 85-65 butt-whipping taken from Ohio State in Madison Square Garden, a venue that Pope loves.

“The Ohio State loss was so painful because it was in Madison Square Garden. It was probably our poorest performance of the season, credit to them,” Pope told Matt Norlander on his podcast Eye on College Basketball. “To rub it in, that building is probably the second-most special building to me in the world. The fact that we performed so poorly in that building, in that city, was really hard.”

Kentucky did have a lot of significant wins. Pope told Norlander the 77-72 win over then No. 6 Duke was probably the most impactful. That gained national respect for Pope and the Wildcats but more importantly validated the decision UK athletics director Mitch Barnhart made when he hired Pope.

“For my guys to get a chance to go prove that they were not just mid-major super-senior guys, but that they were legitimately here to become a part of this incredible Kentucky legacy of these great teams throughout the generations? I think that was really important. I think that was really important,” he told Norlander.

He also thought the win over Gonzaga in Seattle was huge, especially with starting point guard Lamont Butler out with an injury and then losing Kerr Kriisa to injury in the first half. Kentucky still came back from 18 points down to beat coach Mark Few’s team because of a huge effort by Jaxson Robinson.

“Because of how much respect I have for Mark Few, I’m really grateful for the Gonzaga comeback,” Pope said. “We kind of lost both of our point guards in that game, and Jaxson Robinson — I’ve been with him for three years — kind of stepped up and led us to victory, running the point in the last 12 minutes of that game.”

Pope, though, appreciated a lot of “incredible wins” UK had.

“There are only three teams in the history of college basketball that have won eight games in a season against top-15 ranked opponents. We were the only one last year,” Pope said. “There have only been two in the whole history of college basketball, so you can forgive me if it’s hard for me to pick out one.”

That’s called having a nice problem and one Pope or any coach would take any season.