Kentucky coach Mark Pope thought his players took play off against Georgia, one reason the Bulldogs beat UK Tuesday night. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Kentucky coach Mark Pope made it clear after Tuesday’s 86-78 home loss to Georgia that he has to find a way not to play Otega Oweh (35 minutes), Collin Chandler (34) and Denzel Aberdeen (32) so many minutes.
Of course, UK fans wonder why with Kentucky leading by nine points early in the game that Pope went to his bench as much as he did because by halftime Georgia was ahead by five points.
Pope gave a long, and sometimes rambling, answer after the game about what he was trying to do lineup-wise.
“Well, we don’t have many players, first of all. We’ve got to find a way to get our guys minutes down just because our performance suffers as those guys get fatigued,” Pope said. “In fact, really what we saw in the first half, we kind of had the game in hand and we’ve been really diligent in transition defense.
“Georgia is the fastest attacking team in our league. And then we fell apart, we had some poor offensive possessions where we bailed on and transition defensive assignments. I mean it’s just as simple as that.”
Well, obviously it was not that simple for the Cats. But then Pope talked about what drives UK fans crazy.
“You cannot take plays off in this league. You can’t get distracted, especially when it’s the number one thing on the board that we have to accomplish, which is consistently every single possession being in transition defense,” the Kentucky coach said. “And so, we just allowed ourselves to get distracted.
“We actually started the game well. We were functioning well and then we just let Georgia get into a flow in transition, which is what they do and we never really fully recovered in the second half. We had some half-court miscues and some transition defensive miscues.
“Some that were generated by poor offensive decisions at the rim. It’s the number one shot blocking team in our league. And inexplicably, we still were really stubborn at times the second 10 minutes in the first half and at times of the second half about working hard to get to the rim and then take on the power play and make a play for a teammate.
“It’s incredibly frustrating. It’s a space where we are going to struggle. As much as we don’t do that, we are going to continue to struggle. We struggled that way tonight. It’s just, you know, it’s poor decision-making on our part.”
7 Responses
Maybe we could offer that Arkansas coach a job.
I read he is a fairly good recruiter and coach.
Pope is clearly in over his head. He has committed to letting Oweh and Aberdeen play hero ball. Other teams have learned that all they have to do is focus on Aberdeen and throw his game off, let Oweh get his 20 which he did, 28, but got tired in the last 10 minutes committing 3 turnovers trying to lead the comeback. Chandler got 18 on 50%+ shooting, but Aberdeen and Johnson go 3-13 from the arc. Look at the rest of the stats. Jelavic takes 3 shots, making 2, Moreno takes 4 making 2, Noah did not take a shot, Dioubate missed his only shot, Garrison missed all 3 of his. Johnson went 2 for 8. We don't move the ball from side to side, we don't look for open shots, we force shots on one on one plays…a one dimensional team is easy to guard. Selfish play will get you beat more often than not…even against mediocre teams.
Now let's go to the other end of the court. We expend so much energy on offense that we don't have the energy to guard the arc on defense. We gave up 86 points. When we give up 80+ points…we lose every time. Missouri only needed 73 points to win in Rupp and North Carolina beat us with 67. Georgia hit 45% from three. Florida shot a season high from the arc against us…shooting close to 25% but making 36% against us.
Georgia had lost 5 of its previous 6 games then come into Rupp and punk us. We still have to go to Auburn, and A&M, then play Vandy and Florida again in Rupp. South Carolina is the only game that I feel confident in us winning; we will be lucky to win 1 of the other 4. That will give us a 9-9 SEC record and 12 losses overall, neither stat is Kentucky worthy, but has become more reflective of the kind of team Kentucky has become. Pope is letting Oweh and Aberdeen audition for the NBA but we pay for that with losses against teams that we should not lose to. We are in Billy Clyde territory now. Barnhart clipped his wings after 2 seasons, but will not do the same with Pope. This season is a loss. Pope desperately needs to find a pass first point guard in the portal, Lowe is not the answer. If not, the 2026/27 season will be a repeat of this season. Can you say Indiana?
If your horse can't run a mile and a quarter, you had better find a shorter race to run or get a better horse.
Pope just might be the most boring coach to watch during a game and definitely is in post-game as well. He just stands there and claps and points and that about it. Fox seems to be much more engaged with the players during the game. The season is closing out in a hurry and here we are still lacking in basic BB fundaments. We don't pass or handle the ball that well, we have no inside game at all, and we still don't understand how to guard against the 3. Our bigs are as weak as any in the league. Garrison had his trademark 2 points. Jelavic passes on many shots and seems very tentative. I get tired of hearing the announcers talk about his upside. Moreno is decent rebounder but can't make a shot away from the rim. We need a coach that can recruit and win 75-80% of his game and Pope is definitely not that guy!!
Pope never had command of this team. They don't listen to him and do what they want. That's what happens when you try to be their buddy instead of their coach. Even if we lose the rest of the games in this season, and that could very well happen, Barnhart will not fire Pope and Pope won't resign.
Who knows who will return next year? Do you do what is best for Kentucky or best for your career? A lot of teams will come after Moreno, but I hope he will stay. Chandler has already committed to coming back. Pope has abandoned Noah, but Noah bleeds blue. My gut says he will stay. Jelavic has been the neglected player. They never run any offense for him. He will get interest from a lot of teams. I have no idea what he will do. Williams will stay as he is a question mark due to his injury. Garrison is an enigma. The Oklahoma game shows his potential, but my gut says he will look for another team who will feature him in their offense, even if it is a mid major. Dioubate will do the same thing. If Pope signs Stokes, Johnson will move on; if not, he will probably stay. Potter will stay; Hawthorne will look for a new team. Lowe is viewed as damaged goods, but he is not sturdy enough to play in the SEC. I look for him to move on to a mid major.
The real question is: what has Pope learned from these first 2 seasons? What will he do differently? If his third year is a repeat of the first two, he will either resign or be fired. My guess is Stokes will see too much dysfunction in Lexington and will go to Kansas. Pope will need to focus on getting a pass first point guard…a junior or senior to be from the portal along with a promising pass first reserve point guard…ideally a sophomore. He needs to find a big man to back up Moreno and a monster power forward…Jelavic may need another year of development. Williams will get the 3 spot, Chandler the 2, and Noah will back up both positions. Pope will need to be direct in stating his teams will play team ball, even if he has to dismiss a malcontent from the team and stick to his guns. He needs to develop an offense that is geared to shooting the 3 and doing so quickly. Then he needs to bring in a defensive guru to shore up our ability to shut teams down.
A lot of ifs! The only certainty is that Pope will only get one more year to prove he can handle the job. I hope he makes the most of it.
Garrison hasn't really earned the right to be featured. A lot of people have idea what he can do but not sure he does or even has the "want to". Jelavic also has good talent and has been mishandled most of the season. He passes on a lot of shot opportunities, and I am still wanting him to be more physical. It is difficult to see who Pope actually manages or really motivates on this team. He always looks the same out there and never really shows any emotion or holds people accountable on the good or the bad. Not sure we need another year of Garrison so ok with him hitting trans market.
I think a lot of our problem is we got spoil what Pope did leading the team to the sweet 16 last year and thought the pasture will be greener this season. Injuries derail our season this year something it's out of anybody control including Pope. The man is doing his best what we got.
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