What a difference between him and Cal....it was night and day

Pope actually took responsibility for things and laid out in detail what he should have done....never once called out a player

Definitely a breath of fresh air.....Gotta win of course, but he definitely said the right things

Reckon he will contribute much before end of the year, or will the 2 year layoff be too much to overcome this season? I think he has a lot of talent , just so rusty I guess. Would be a great addition to get him going.

KENTUCKY HC MARK POPE OFFICIAL PRESS CONFERENCE Q&A:

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KENTUCKY HC MARK POPE UK RADIO NETWORK Q&A:

* That team beat Baylor by 40 earlier this year. Think about that. To come in and beat them here was special.

* We were having no success with our defensive approach in the first half. They were tearing us up in ball-screen coverage. Their PG is so special, manipulating the floor. We were able to show some different morphed looks with the zone in the second half, allowed us to stay afloat.

* Oweh was so good on Nemhard in 2nd half.

* Robinson, Garrison were so good tonight. BG probably played his best game in a while.

* Guys had a huge emphasis on cutting away from the ball tonight, paid off late. Some real progress there. It's all triggered by getting downhill first before the defense can bump you off.

* Jaxson has played a little point before at BYU. Thought he was brilliant in that role tonight. Made some tough buckets in the lane. Defensive effort was incredible. He did a lot for us.

* Kerr's got a foot/ankle issue. We'll do some imaging on it tomorrow and see what it looks like.

* Gonzaga is so good at putting people away out here. Broke a streak of them winning 175 in a row when leading by 10-plus at the half.

* Listened to the guys at the half, wanted to know what they were seeing, wanted to offer our input on what we were seeing, sharing in that process of making adjustments.

* Rewarding to see us take a step forward from what we weren't able to accomplish at Clemson. It will be fun to break down this film. We've got probably a half-dozen cuts to show that freed up something. 100x better than we did at Clemson.

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KENTUCKY G OTEGA OWEH UK RADIO NETWORK Q&A:

* This was about believing in each other, not paying attention to the scoreboard, and just continuing to fight.

* We've been working on that 1-3-1 in practice, and it even causes us some confusion at times. Nice to have that in our back pocket.

Loserville getting 9.5 points at home against Dook. 🙃

NM

Thanks a lot Coach Pope, I blame you. It’s been a while since we had a Heart-pounding ending to a game. Basketball is fun again!!

Said they’ll get imaging tomorrow.

Go cats

Should be sky high for the team:
A true road win vs a top 10 team and a perennial power.
Down 16 at the half.
Starting point guard, and in my opinion the team’s most important player, out with an injury.
Back up point guard goes out.
Your 3 slides to point.

But most importantly, the players should have great confidence in their coach.

In fact the Zags were 4 of 25 from 3 before two late daggers in OT.

It really is unbelievable what Duke and Gonzaga shot from three v the Cats.
Yet, in actuality, Georgia St is the only one of our 9 opponents to shoot it well from distance.

Holding teams to under 30% from 3 is more of an expected occurrence now than an anomaly; as for the season, teams are shooting a frigid 25% from deep v UK.

For ref: UK is shooting the 3 slightly over 35%.

If we can keep that difference at plus 10% for the season we will be in the FF and probably win it all.

That was unbridled ferocity and under the circumstances one of the nastiest dunks in UK history.

Ike was there as was another Zag to start with but neither got in the mad bull’s way! I think Ike was shocked at the speed and courage of Oweh!

That dunk set the tone for the rest of OT as UK would eventually boss by 7.

Going 1-3-1 .changed the game on multiple levels:
- Kentucky starts to dictate the rhythm
- took away completely out of the game their best players ( PG and Center) and forced them into stagnant offense and open opportunities for us to get rebounds and fast breaks.
- took away also Battle from the game
- took away Gonzaga shooting 3 ability ( which was not great as it was)
- gave a chance to Amari to stay in the game and be somewhat effective
- managed Carr fault trouble.
- 1-3-1 had more wrinkles : switch to man , switch to 2-3 zone, stay whole possession in 1-3-1 , switch who goes on on top of the 1 pending on how Few chased to attack middle or classical offense against 1-3-1

Considering that Pope was forced to go with Robinson as Pg and Few could not find the antidote against 1-3-1 ( we kept Gonzaga to 29 points in second half) and surprisingly was not effective on trapping or speeding up Robinson, we can conclude that we have a great Coach.

Proud of our boys !

Pretty damn impressive; especially considering one game was on a neutral court and the other was on the road.
Pitino didnt do it, Hall didnt do it. Cal didnt do it nor Tubby or Eddie, only Rupp and Pope.

In freaking Seattle Washington!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Unreal

We look pretty good in it.

Switching from man to man to zone is an essential element for this team winning going forward IMO.

………you aaaaalmost had it Zag Fans!!!

Thanks Coach.

Zags were undefeated up 10 or more at the half. Make it 175-1 GO BIG BLUE!!’

Georgia Tech 17-0 over Georgia at the half last time Georgia was shutout in the first half 2019 against Kentucky

… play zone? We can’t keep up with them on defense.

KENTUCKY MEN’S BASKETBALL POSTGAME NOTES
CLIMATE PLEDGE ARENA | SEATTLE
DEC 7, 2024
ATTENDANCE: 17,846

Final Score: #4 Kentucky 90, #7 Gonzaga 89 (OT)

Team Records and Series Notes

• Kentucky is 8-1 and Gonzaga is 7-2
• The all-time series is tied, 2-2. UK is 2-0 on neutral floors
• This was the third straight season that Kentucky and Gonzaga have squared off
• Mark Pope is now 195-109 as a head coach, including 8-1 at Kentucky
• Next for Kentucky: The Wildcats return home to take on Colgate on Wednesday, Dec. 11, at 8 p.m. inside Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. The game will air on ESPN 2.

Team Notes

• Kentucky is 2-0 against AP top 10 opponents this season. It is the quickest (nine games) into a season that the Cats have two victories over AP top 10 opponents since 2014-15 (eight games)
• The Cats matched the largest halftime deficit overcome in school history, coming from 16 points down at the intermission to win. Other comebacks in program history when trailing by 16 at the half:
  • at Louisville (Dec. 18, 2004)
  • at LSU (Feb. 15, 1994)
• UK is now 104-72 all-time in matchups involving two AP top 10 teams
• The Wildcats snapped a streak of 175 games that Gonzaga has won when leading by 10 or more points at the half
• It was the first OT game for the Cats since last season’s home contest against Florida on Jan. 31, 2024
• It marked the first OT win for Kentucky since the victory over St. Joe’s on Nov. 20, 2023
• Kentucky led for a total of 6:38 on the night
• Five players scored in double-figures. It is the fourth time this season that UK has had at least five players total double-digits in the scoring column
• In the second half and overtime, Andrew Carr and Jaxson Robinson were a combined 12-14 from the field and scored 28 points. They played 16:11 minutes of game time between them with four fouls
• The Cats held Gonzaga to just 6-27 (22.2%) shooting from beyond the arc. It is the sixth opponent that UK has held to less than 25 percent from deep on the season

Player Notes

• Andrew Carr was the leading scorer for Kentucky finishing with a season-high of 19 points. Carr is averaging 18.0 points per game against AP Top 10 opponents this season and has been Kentucky’s leading scorers in both such contests. He played the last 9:55 of game time with four fouls
• Jaxson Robinson had 18 points, 15 of which came in the second half, and registered a season-best five assists. He played the last 6:16 of game time with four fouls
• Kerr Kriisa reached 1,000 points for his collegiate career when he buried a 3-pointer on Kentucky’s first possession of the game. He finished with eight points and four assists, but left the game with an injury with 8:41 to go in the second half
• Brandon Garrison made the first 3-pointer of his collegiate career and scored a season-high 10 points while also securing a season-high nine rebounds
• Koby Brea has made at least one 3-pointer in every game this season and 24-straight games overall
• Otega Oweh has scored in double figures in every game this season. He finished with 13 points and six rebounds (five on the offensive glass) in a team-high 38 minutes of action
• Amari Williams totaled 12 points and finished with two blocks. He has multiple blocked shots in six of his last seven games

In the First Half

• Kentucky’s starters were Kerr Kriisa, Otega Oweh, Jaxson Robinson, Andrew Carr and Amari Williams
  • First subs were Kerr Kriisa and Brandon Garrison at 15:44
• Kentucky went the last 5:06 of the first half without a field goal and trailed by 16 heading into the break, the team’s largest deficit this season
• Brandon Garrison was Kentucky’s high scorer in the opening 20 minutes, scoring eight points

In the Second Half

• Kentucky began the second half with the starters
• Gonzaga scored first in half number two to take its largest lead of the game, 52-34
• A 7-0 Kentucky spurt fueled by an Otega Oweh layup, an Andrew Carr “and-one” and a dunk by Amari Williams cut the deficit to 56-46 and forced a Gonzaga timeout at 16:43.
• Kentucky extended the run after the timeout to a 13-0 spurt, bringing the score to 56-52. The 13 straight points were tied for the second largest run by UK this season
• A jumper from Andrew Carr with 58 seconds to go tied the game at 79, the first tie of the night
• Koby Brea had a look at a mid-range jumper as time expired, but the shot bounced off the front of the rim

In Overtime

• Kentucky scored the first seven points of the overtime to lead, 86-79
• Gonzaga responded with the next six points to pull within one at 86-85
• The Wildcats went up by four on a jumper from Jaxson Robinson with 14 seconds to go
• The Bulldogs responded with a 3-pointer from Nolan Hickman to bring the score to 90-89 with 5 seconds remaining
• Andrew Carr was fouled but missed the ensuing two free throws. He was able to disrupt the Gonzaga fast break, however, and the Bulldogs did not get off a final shot before the horn

WHO’S IN THE HOUSE TONIGHT?