Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. After watching his team get buried 26-12 in the opening 12 minutes against Vanderbilt, Mark Pope knew he couldn't just "hope" for a better start against Arkansas. He had to manufacture one.
Speaking on his weekly radio show with Tom Leach, Pope revealed that he and the staff overhauled their entire approach for the trip to Fayetteville. They didn't just change the game plan; they changed the rhythm of the entire day to ensure his team was ready to hit first.
Kentucky went 'full gas' in practice
The changes started days before the game. Despite a roster battered by injuries and limited depth, Pope decided to ramp up the intensity in practice, a calculated risk.
"We actually tried to work on a couple of segments where we [went] full gas, 100 percent intensity," Pope explained. "Our guys did a nice job... You can't do that too long in practice, especially when you are down to the limited number of available players we are."
The goal was specific: Change "the way it feels to hit somebody from the first minute of the game."
And it worked.
Less is more on game day
The biggest adjustment came on game day itself. Typically, Pope likes to have the team "smell the gym," visiting the arena early to get a feel for the environment. It is a standard part of their prep.
For this trip? They scrapped it.
"We also go smell the gym, [but] we didn't do that just to simplify the schedule," Pope told Leach. "We shortened our hour-long pregame on-court prep."
By cutting out the extra travel and shortening the draining on-court warmups, Pope opted to keep the team's legs fresh and their minds uncluttered. The strategy was clear: Simplify the schedule so the energy could be saved for the tip-off.
The proof is in the numbers
Pope cautioned that it was a "limited sample size," but the difference between the start in Nashville and the start in Fayetteville was night and day.
- vs. Vanderbilt: Kentucky started 1-for-11 from the field, looked sluggish, and fell into a 26-12 hole.
- vs. Arkansas: Kentucky started 10-of-11 from the field, looked electric, and jumped out to a 28-23 lead.
That is a massive swing in the opening 12 minutes against two ranked teams on the road. Whether it was the "full gas" reps or the simplified schedule, Mark Pope found the right buttons to press. And with the schedule only getting tougher, he needs to keep pressing them.