Kentucky basketball's Mark Pope reacts to Ole Miss' historic performance
02/05/2025 01:28 PM
After the Kentucky basketball lost their second straight against the Ole Miss Rebels, 98-84, head coach Mark Pope would speak about his team’s performance. Coming off the loss where Arkansas Razorbacks’ John Calipari returned to face Kentucky basketball, the game against Ole Miss is significant as it proves to be a reality check for the Wildcats.
The Rebels achieved history in the win as the 98 points scored against the Wildcats is the most in the rivalry’s history which no doubt puts the loss into perspective for Pope and the rest of the team. Though the team would make an effort in the second half to come back, Pope was stern about how the program doesn’t take “moral victories,” though still acknowledges what they did well according to On3 Sports.
"Come on, this is Kentucky," Pope said. "We don't do moral victories at all."
"We also will try and build on the things we do well. I thought we had some pace in the second half that was much better and we did it by sharing the ball," Pope continued. "Ole Miss missed a couple of shots for us, so we got to get out in transition. That's really important, after make or miss, we have to find our way back into transition. That's really important for us. That was a positive."
There is no doubt that the lethargic performance from the loss to Calipari and Arkansas carried over. As it marks another disappointing and heartbreaking loss for the Kentucky basketball program, they could use it as fuel to close out the season in an explosive way.
Kentucky basketball’s Mark Pope on the defensive effort against Ole Miss
Looking at the points scored in each half, the Wildcats need to start better as they scored 31 but allowed 54 to Ole Miss as Pope spoke on their defensive effort.
"We went through our whole playbook of different defensive options and it's hard to take too much because you're nursing a lead, so you play different. At least we got some reps doing different things," Pope said. "We'll get better at those, we'll grow there. We've got a resilient group and a group that cares. This was one of those nights where you could have just walked away and our guys didn't do that.
"That's clearly a standard and we'll never accept dipping below it, so I'm proud of our guys for that,” Pope continued. “It's hard finding positives, but there are certainly some."
With the Wildcats now losing four of their last five contests, they need to have a sense of urgency before the losses start piling on for the team. However, Pope seems fairly confident that they will turn the season around, admitting that it won’t “get easier.”
"We'll continue to expound on the things the guys did well, but we're in a tough spot right now as a team," he said. "We're searching for answers. It's not going to get easier. This is the job, and I'm glad I get to do it with these guys. We're gonna go find answers and we're going to find unbelievable success as we go, but this is certainly a hard place for us right now."
The Wildcats are now 15-7, 4-5 in conference play, as they next take on South Carolina on Feb. 8.
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