Vicky Graff Photo
After managing to overcome deficits of 12, 18 and 17 points in the last three games, including two games on the road, and managing to win all three despite never having the lead until late in the last two games has helped change the trajectory of Kentucky’s season.
Instead of being 1-5 in SEC play, Kentucky is 4-2 after rallying to win those games going into home games this week with Texas on Wednesday and Ole Miss on Saturday.
However, coach Mark Pope is not ready to label his team with a nickname like Comeback Cats, Cardiac Cats or anything else. He just wants to win.
“We have a lot of work to do before we get to carve our name into something historic like that, but I like this group. I’m proud of them,” Pope said after the comeback win at Tennessee. “This has not been an easy road. If we do this right, then at the end of the day, we’re gonna be so grateful that it wasn’t an easy road because it gives them a chance to show what’s inside of them.
“We have so much work to do, so much along the way, but this has been a fun run by these guys so far.”
Kentucky cut a 17-point deficit in the first half at Tennessee to 11 by halftime that had Pope even joking about the margin after the game.
“We actually felt great going into halftime down 11. It’s the first time we’ve only been down 11 in like a month, right?” the coach joked. “It feels like we felt like we won the first half, which is weird, but it’s the Kentucky way right now.”
The Kentucky way is a dangerous trend. Sure leads are not as safe as they once were in today’s college basketball but trying to overcome huge deficits and not getting a lead until two minutes or less remain is not a consistent recipe for success. Kentucky got its first lead at Tennessee with 34 seconds to play. Kentucky led less than two minutes in the win at LSU the game before.
“I think the gift we have, and I will treasure this with this group and we really feel it,” Pope said Saturday. “We actually talked about it in our team meeting last night. It’s like, we’re coming into halftime down 20. We’ve done it multiple times now and we come back and win every single time.
“It gives you so much confidence as a group because you can walk in the locker room and nobody’s sideways. It’s like, ‘Yep, this is what we do. We’ll come out and win the second half.’ These guys have proved to do it, man.”
The Kentucky coach said it has been “awesome” to see his players grinding out wins and is proud of the way they have “refused to get discouraged” no matter what happens.
Pope asked players Collin Chandler and Denzel Aberdeen at the postgame press conference Saturday if they were enjoying the comeback wins.
“I think you have to earn confidence. You don’t just get it, right? You have to earn it. You gotta go do the gritty, hard, miserable work of earning confidence. And you have to take the heat and take the hate. These guys, all of us, have had a lot of stuff cast on us, for sure. And you gotta look it straight in the eye and go earn it. These guys are starting to earn their confidence,” Pope said.
“They’re starting to learn the fact that maybe things don’t go perfect on a play, or perfect in a four-minute stretch, or perfect in a half. But they’re starting to earn their confidence through the hard, gritty work that they’re doing, the refusal to give in to fatigue or frustration and just turn it into a fight. They’re earning the confidence they have, and it’s a good feeling. That’s why this game and these seasons are so great.”
12 Responses
Thankful ( and amazed ) for comeback wins, but not a good formula for ongoing success.
Gutty? I guess you can say that, but getting down by 18 in the first half screams dysfunction. Making comeback wins does take determined focus and effort, but why can't we start the game that way?
Where were the guts in the Missouri loss? We led most of the second half and were up 66-58 with 4:37 left in the game. We only scored 2 points in the remainder of that game and not only lost that 8 point lead but ended up losing by 5 and Mizzou is just an average team. If we had won that game, we would be tied with Florida for the SEC lead. There was no reason for us losing that game in Rupp, but we did.
Paul is right…winning on last second baskets when down by as many as 18 points or more is not a good formula for ongoing success. Winning on the last shot when the score has been close the entire second half (no more than a 4 point spread)…that's gutty! What we did against LSU and Tennessee falls under the heading of lucky at best or stupid for being down so far in the first place.
Teams like Texas, Vanderbilt, and Texas A&M are too fast, too quick for us to guard man to man for the entire game. If we do, we will be in another double digit deficit by half time. We will need to play more zone to slow them down and avoid foul trouble. Jelavic and Noah will need to get major minutes for us to match up with Texas. This game is in Rupp. Forget the heroics, just play solid team ball from the jump and win this game!
Belive it or not cats are the best 3 pt shooting team in the SEC a trend hope it continues.
This team is learning not to give up and how to keep fighting, which will be needed in the the tournaments. However, they also need to learn how to fight to keep a lead an entire game. It's all a process of learning how to do this or how to do that with players you never played with before.
I really think this team needs to learn how to fight the entire game even when things are not going well on offense. They fought decently in the first half, but turnovers and a lack of rebounding killed them. They corrected those in the second half; they need to learn to do those things all the time. Lazy passes and not rebounding are a lack of concentration and a lack of effort.
Like I've said all year we are a year away from breaking through. We only returned 4 guys from last year and 3 of them didn't play a lot of minutes. Now does everyone see why I said Noah should have redshirted? He is wasting time sitting on the end the of the bench. That's what I dont understand if Pope knew he wouldn't have a role on this team why not redshirt him barring injury? Oh well it's his career not mine. Jasper Johnson and Moreno play great together. They will be a unstoppable 1-2 punch next year. Chandler has started to come out of his funk. If he can get back to his form he was playing with at the beginning of the season we will be a much better team. He needs to keep shooting the ball. He's a good shooter. Oweh has been knocking down 3s too. Aberdeen has stepped up his game as well. I would like to see Williams get a little more playing time. If Pope would tell mo to stop shooting 3s and stay around the basket we would look much better. There is no use in spreading people out who can't shoot. That just makes it impossible for a offensive rebound. We play much better in transition then slowing the game up because we dont have a true PG. Pope needs to let em run.
Terry,
Some players don't want to Red Shirt and won't acceot it.
Might have been out of Pope's hands.
I think Moreno will be just outside the lottery.
There's word out that JQ may not suit up again. Pope was about give information about him on the radio show last night for some reason he got cut off before he could say anything. I have read that someone posted that he may have been part of the betting while he was at Arizona St but that's like everything else pure speculation.
Just started to listen to Pope's pre Texas presser and had to turn away. His pressers are always the same boring, repetitive commentary. Of course JQ not starting but making progress and will be returning soon?? Anyone really believe that?
It's very weird that JQ didn't want to sign with Pope when he became the coach but after tearing his ACL he wanted to sign with him. He doesn't want to play because he's not good on offense and wont score alot of points. Points is what will get him a high pick in the draft. Everyone knows he can play defense and rebound but everyone wants to see that he improves on offense. Being out of basketball for about 6 months will make your shooting extremely rusty. He doesn't want to play because every game he plays it's hurting his draft stock. I thought when Cal left these days were over. I bet you this Pope never puts himself in this situation again. He knows getting JQ now was not worth the risk. We could have gotten two great players for the same price we payed him to give teammates high fives. I wouldn't be surprised if he is involved in the "betting talk" because he has a money hungry dad who is the worst thing for someone trying to become the best player he can be. JQs dad needs to take a step back and let his son figure this out for himself. When a parent talks for them alot I always have a ton of question marks. It's harder for someone younger to finesse everyone then it is for a 45 year old man to lie for his son. I doubt he plays anymore. Me and someone else in this room called before the season started that this would happen. That he would either not play or play just a couple of games. He used Kentucky for the doctors and practice facilities. Good Luck in the NBA young man your going to need it. If the betting allegations are true this was his last chance to cash in because the NBA won't take the risk.
Hope he’s clean and Pops doesn’t let him dribble.
Pope above