Mark Pope explained one of the oddest changes for the Michigan State game, his decision to ditch the usual coaching suits for New York games to a more casual quarter-zip look. It was a purely superstitious decision to break a personal jinx. If you remember, last year was ugly for Kentucky at Madison Square Garden too.
Kentucky came in to the CBS Sports Classic ranked number 4 in the country playing an unranked Ohio State team and got boat raced by 20. There was nothing positive about what happened on the court, though some players did get engaged.
Pope admitted the previous year's loss at MSG was a painful memory: "I'm like, man, that was such a debacle last year. I just got to try and change up something." It didn't work.
The pain of Kentucky basketball's Madison Sqaure Garden 'debacle'
The MSU loss felt like a debacle too, so clothes don't make the man, and they don't break curses. This years MSG game was never really close either, because Kentucky's strengths were neutralized by the opponent's randomness:
- Michigan State shot an unexpected 50% from three. Pope noted he "didn't expect them to shoot the ball that well" and Tom Izzo after the game said they made shots they normally do not.
- This defensive failure was coupled with an offensive flop, something they had worked on leading up to the game.
Pope ultimately took responsibility for his personal bad luck in New York: "Maybe it's me and MSG right now for the last two years. I can't wait to run that back and fix it." By framing the failure as a personal curse that he is eager to "run back," Pope ensures the fanbase that he takes the repeated failure on the national stage personally, promising a defiant return to the national stage.
He won't have to wait too long with both North Carolina and Gonzaga coming in the next 2 weeks.
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