Mark Pope delivered a shocking admission regarding the strategic failure leading up to the 83-66 blowout loss against Michigan State
Instead of dedicating time to reinforcing fundamental game plans, Pope admitted the staff took a gamble that did not pay off:
"Last week we spent way less time in preparation for Michigan State kind of reviewing and perfecting our secondary offensive options. And we spent a lot of time growing our play call list..."
Pope confirmed this was a massive, costly error: "It was a big time miss for us because we were really dysfunctional in our secondary offense."
The cost of indecisiveness was huge for Kentucky basketball
This admission is particularly damning when paired with the disastrous offensive numbers against MSU:
- Kentucky shot just 35% from the field (20-of-57 FGM).
- Pope noted the team failed to be decisive, leading to issues like not having a "single double paint touch in a possession and a half"—something that has never happened since he arrived.
- This failure in execution contrasts sharply with the season's overall ranking of #15 in Two Point % (63.4%), proving the issue was preparation and decisiveness, not lack of ability.
So, again like the summer where Mark Pope said all they worked on was defense, the thing they are working on looks atrocious when it matters. This is either a big coaching issue in that they can't teach these guys, or it is a player issue where they simply refuse to do things. Either way, it is not a good look.
Pope sacrificed the team’s foundation for "new wrinkles," and the result was a "discombobulated" team that lost the simple principles of spacing and cutting, failing to be consistent in the things they already do well.
Not only did he not make a weakness any better, he turned their strengths into weaknesses.
Drew Holbrook is an avid Kentucky fan who has been covering the Cats for over 10 years. In his free time he enjoys downtime with his family and Premier League soccer. You can find him on X here. Micah 7:7. #UptheAlbion