Guard Denzel Aberdeen knows how not to "carry emotional weight" in a game that can distract players. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Kentucky coach Mark Pope had an answer for his team’s performance in a 96-88 loss at No. 12 Louisville Tuesday night.
Amid a search for words during the past two days regarding the Wildcats’ first loss of the season, Pope keeps going back to “this concept of distracted effort.”
“That’s what I’m sitting on right now,” Pope said Thursday ahead of the team’s contest against Eastern Illinois set for 7 p.m. Friday at Rupp Arena. “That’s kind of where I am trying to understand why we were out of character in so many ways.”
Pope singled out his team’s lack of attention on defense, especially in transition, an issue that led to breakdowns in the first half against the Cardinals. Louisville could hardly miss in the opening half and built an 18-point lead early in the second half before the Wildcats rallied down the stretch.
“When you’re under pressure, under duress, sometimes you just fall into bad habits, default habits, distracted actions, and so we spent a lot of time the other night being really, really distracted and disappointing,” he said. “It’s human nature. It’s what you fight as an athlete — the ability to get back and focus on this moment. We didn’t do it very well.”
A disappointment, Pope said, was the Cardinals’ ability to score 34 points in the first eight seconds of the shot clock, which led to ineffective decision-making on both ends of the floor.
“That’s actually really hard to do,” Pope said. “There was so much in our response to the pressure that was out of character.”
Despite the struggles against Louisville, Pope praised the performance of guard Denzel Aberdeen, who scored a career-high 26 points. After three games, Aberdeen leads the Wildcats with 11 assists in three games and averages 3.7 assists per contest.
“Denzel is awesome,” Pope said. “He’s pretty good about not carrying emotional weight around with him, because you can during the course of a game, you can just start to pile on emotional weight, good and bad, and sideways and all the things.
“He’s pretty good about not carrying a bunch of emotional weight … I think that’s one of the reasons why he functioned at a pretty high level in this game on the road is because he’s pretty used to just moving on to the next play and that’s something our team will get really good at, but we’re not great at yet.”
Pope hopes the Wildcats use Tuesday’s loss as a motivation for the remainder of the season and an opportunity to “re-write” the script moving forward. Following Friday’s game against the Panthers, the No. 9 Wildcats will take on Michigan State.
“The only thing we can do about that is be better tomorrow,” Pope said. “That’s the only way we can approach it. It’s either going to be a setback forever or you’re going to turn it into a pivotal moment in your growth.”
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Gametracker: Eastern Illinois at Kentucky, 7 p.m., Friday. TV/Radio: ESPN+ and UK Radio Network.
12 Responses
If that's the case why didn't Pope address it.
Disconnected.
Perhaps distracted, or just not interested. It was a game UL wanted as a TEAM.
I know you can't take stock in anyting you hear or read, but there's some rumbling that there was a fight in KY locker room prior before the Louisville game started
I heard the exact same thing and I heard that Noah and cam Williams were the two that were into it
I would call it stinking thinking. We have 5 guys right now who think they need to focus on their game to improve their draft stock… Oweh, Dioubate, Garrison, Lowe, and Johnson. They are not playing for the team, they are selfishly playing for themselves. They think they can be the heroes for this team; instead they are bringing us down.
Williams showed signs of good things to come if it was not just a flash in the pan. Jelavic should get more PT. He is a team guy, but Pope needs to show more confidence in him. Moreno is improving, but still learning how to play against stronger, more physical, more experienced players. Aberdeen had a breakout game against Louisville. Was that a one time thing or a sign of good things to come? It has taken a while, but Chandler is balling! He is shooting 57% from the arc! His defense is coming along but he needs to be the starting 2 guard with Aberdeen at the point. Start Williams at the 3, Jelavic at the 4 and Moreno at the 5, because they have earned it. I am not sure when Noah will be back, but he will have to wait his turn, get back into shape, and get his shooting eye back.
As for the 5 musketeers, Pope needs to have a sit-down with each of them and get them to confess the error of their ways. Anything short of that and they will continue being selfish. They still have plenty of time to show that they are capable of helping this team win, but they have to acknowledge that the team can win without them first. Does Pope have the stones to take such a dramatic step, not only for the good of the team but for the good of those hero players? It won't take long to find out.
Putting a staff and team together in 2 months and getting them to function as a team was Pope's first challenge that he handled admirably. Dealing with all of the injuries was next and he did better than most would have. Winning in the post season was next. He did ok, but there is room for improvement in the SEC and NCAA tourneys. Now, coaching a team with too much talent is his next and biggest test to date. How he handles this will shape his coaching success at UK for years to come. He needs to focus on being the coach and not everyone's buddy. Sometimes a player needs discipline to correct bad habits. Pope has not shown that he has this trait in his DNA…yet. It is time for him to man up and take his coaching to the next level. This is Kentucky, not Utah State or BYU. BYU has not missed a beat since Pope left. Just getting to Kentucky is not good enough. It's time for Pope to take the next step up with his coaching acumen. The spotlight is on him more than the team right now. Can he handle it? I really hope so. We will see.
Why are we in the same position we were in last year except last year we had 2 PGs this year we have only one.
There is a glaring hole on this basketball team. I said it all summer we only have one true point guard. Jaland Lowe is the only point guard on the team. Last year we had 2 point guards and both were hurt. Most teams have 3-4 point guards. We have one. He has the exact same Injury as Lamont Butler last year!? How?! Why?! We have 14 basketball players and only one true point guard. That's a problem in itself. When we got Hawthorne, Potter, and Jelavic to round out the roster I was scratching my head. I said with one point guard we need a true point guard. Someone who only worries about getting everyone else involved. You would think after last year not having a point guard Pope would have said I'm never only having 2 point guards on the team. What does he do this year cut that in half. We have one point guard. We might be the only team in college basketball with only one PG. Johnson Chandler and Aberdeen can fill in but they are not PGs. We have 5-6 post players. 4 wings and 4 guards. One point guard isn't going to cut it. If I was the opposing coach I would put pressure on the ball. Exactly what Kelsey did. It's not Chandler Johnson and Aberdeen's fault they are playing out of position. I just hope this isn't a problem every year. His first 2 years it has been a problem. I would never put myself in this type of situation again. We are going to have a tough time against the better teams in the non conference schedule. I think we lose at least 3 games in non conference. We will probably lose at least 4-6 games in conference. We will probably have about the same record as last year maybe a little better. I think last year's team had more heart and determination. They weren't good on defense they weren't very athletic but they were very smart. This years team is better all around except shooting and brains.
Pope needs to get some separation from the emotion and distraction psycho babble and concentrate on accountability, game prep, and balling.
College BB is being run by the players, who pick their next stop based on money. TEAM play is the furtheresr thing from the mind of most players, especially those who have already worn jerseys for other schools.
A lot of college games are now not much more than the equivalent of street ball pick-up games where players switch sides without ever caring for either group of playera. Street ball inside a covered arena is the new college BB system, Just add money to the players pockets & let them play in a covered arean and that is the only difference from the former college game. Refs have turned the game over to the players so they can grab, push, shove, pull, trio, hold & any othet thug style of action and the new style of game is complete.
Genuine BB within the rules of the game was even played by the pros when the greatest playera – Wilt Chambetlaon, Oscar Robertson, Elgin Baylor, Rick Barry, Jerry Lucas – were performing with professionalism. Then it started to slip away into a thug fest. Now the NIL has ended amateur college ball.
Now it’s difficult for any coach in BB or FB to have the same impact that coaches had in the good ole days.
I would say it is impossible to have that same type of impact now
I’m hearing that Trent Noah and cam Williams had a dust up in the locker room before the Louisville game started
Too many good players…not enough minutes.
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