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Mark Pope knows that Louisville is not just another game for Kentucky basketball fans, players or coaches.
“It’s the biggest game,” Pope said Friday after UK routed Valparaiso to tune up for Tuesday’s game at Louisville matching two preseason top 10 teams.
However, Pope also knows this is just one of many “biggest” games that Kentucky will face.
“The nice thing for us is that every game is the biggest game we’ve ever played,” the Kentucky coach said after the Valpo win on Friday. “ In-state rivalry games are always fun and exciting. We can’t wait to get to it and we gotta get through the autopsy of this game and take what we can learn.
“It’s just a beautiful thing. Everything comes so fast. We are going to be in New York the week after next (to play Michigan State). Someone told me that yesterday and I was like, ‘Wow, it seemed like it was months away.’ So, it’s just great game after great game after great game and this is certainly a big one, just like they all are.”
The last time Louisville beat Kentucky was on Dec. 26, 2020 when Carlik Jones and David Johnson combined for 37 points, 12 rebounds and six assists to end a three-game losing streak to Kentucky.
Louisville has one of the nation’s best freshmen in guard Mikel Brown Jr., a teammate of UK freshman Jasper Johnson on Team USA that won a gold medal in Switzerland last summer. Brown is projected as a one-and-done NBA lottery pick.
Remember former UK coach John Calipari said Kentucky was every team’s Super Bowl. He told Tom Leach on the UK Radio Network after the Valpo win that he expected the Louisville game to again be an “all-out war” but repeated that every game is that way.
“Every single game is life or death, and we talk about it as a team. We talked about it in our huddle at shoot-around today. Today was the biggest, toughest, most important game that we’ve played in this short season so far, and the same is going to be true when we go on the road to play Louisville and that’s every game,” Pope said.
“It’s the blessed part of playing at Kentucky, that every game is the biggest game.”
4 Responses
Louisville says Kentucky is a bunch of pussies! They will either be proved right or wrong. Make no mistake…there will be blood shed on Tuesday night! Get ready for a fist fight!
We will learn a lot about this team tomorrow night. A team legitimately in the hunt for #9 will not get embarrassed and should win this game.
Both teams are very skilled, well coached, and ready for this encounter. I hope we are as fired up as we were last year. I would feel a little better if we were at home and that history hasn't favored as us much controlling UL like we have. I also feel that as emotional as Kelsey gets that could make the difference. Go Cats!!
Play angry! Play mean! Go CATS!!!
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