Look at the box score from Kentucky’s win over Indiana and one line almost jumps off the page harder than the final score:
Fourteen offensive rebounds.
In a game where the Wildcats shot 38% from the field, 66% from the FT line and 20% from three, those extra possessions were oxygen. They turned into 18 second-chance points and, in a lot of ways, the margin between another frustrating loss and a season-shifting win.
According to Mark Pope, that didn’t start on Saturday. It started in a dark film room with an assistant coach finally snapping.
Cody Fueger ‘lost his mind’ in the film room and Kentucky basketball responded
Pope said the staff had been quietly stewing over Kentucky’s lack of physicality on the glass.
“We’ve been dealing with a lot of internal conversations and frustration and we just haven’t been very successful on the glass in a while,” Pope explained.
The team tracks “wedges” which is their term for getting inside position on rebounds every day. The effort hadn’t matched the standard. Eventually, assistant Cody Fueger, who oversees that part of the program, hit his breaking point.
“Finally coach Fueger, who is in charge of that part of our team… lost his mind in the film session,” Pope said. “I mean lost his mind like I’ve never seen him. I’ve been with him for like 60 years and he just lost his mind.”
Message received.
Against Indiana, Kentucky went after the offensive glass like the season depended on it. Otega Oweh grabbed 4 offensive boards. Brandon Garrison ripped down 3 more. Mo Dioubate added 2. Even guards were flying in from the perimeter just to put a body on someone.
Pope loved it, not just because of the stat line, but because of the mindset shift.
“It’s fun to see these guys embrace the idea that we wedge to win,” he said. “We don’t wedge to do a job or fulfill a quota, we wedge to win.”
On a night when jumpers rimmed out and the offense bogged down, those “wedges” were the whole story. Without them, Indiana walks out of Rupp happy. With them, Kentucky walked out with a rivalry win and something even bigger:
A tangible identity they can pack with them the rest of the year.