We all saw exactly what happened on the floor in Gainesville today. Kentucky turned the ball over, forced up bad shots, and got completely bullied by a physical Florida team.
But when Mark Pope sat down with Tom Leach for his postgame radio interview, he didn't just point the finger at the players' execution. He pointed the finger directly at himself.
Mark Pope doesn't mind taking the blame
When Leach asked Pope about Florida's three-big lineup and how their guards shot the ball, Pope was incredibly candid about his own game plan.
"I thought it was the difference in the game," Pope admitted. "We took some terrible routes. We need to clean that up. I probably made mistakes on matchups... I felt like their backcut hurt us tonight."
That is the kind of honesty Big Blue Nation respects. But the most interesting part of the interview came right after that. When Leach asked Pope if he would like to elaborate on exactly which matchups he made mistakes on, Pope simply said, "No."
He refused to throw specific players under the bus on the radio, but anyone watching the game knows exactly where the breakdowns happened. I can tell you a few of them. They kept leaving Urban Klavzar wide open. He made 5-11 from deep. Whenever Kentucky would make a run, they would leave him wide open and he'd can a 3.
The Malachi Moreno silver lining
While the defensive matchups were a nightmare, Pope did take time to single out one massive bright spot: freshman big man Malachi Moreno.
Moreno finished the game with 11 points and 11 rebounds, but what is truly insane is that he did it in just 20 minutes of action before fouling out. (If you stretch those numbers out to a full 40-minute game, Moreno was on pace for an absurd 22 points and 22 rebounds).
"Yeah, he did it in 20 minutes, 11 and 11 in 20 minutes is really hard," Pope said. "The fourth foul was a killer; it was a young play. Ever since kind of getting beat up at Vandy, he has demonstrated a real presence on the floor."
Moreno is growing up right before our eyes. Unfortunately, his "young play" sent him to the bench, and Florida immediately capitalized on his absence.
A frustrated locker room
Ultimately, this is a game Kentucky just gave away.
"The guys are pretty disappointed, every game is huge right now," Pope told Leach. "We know Florida played really well, and they are a really good team. We feel like we could play so much better, and that is frustrating for us." It is frustrating for the fans, too. But at least the head coach isn't making excuses. He knows he has to be better, and he knows the team has to be better, and they are running out of time to do it.
They have 6 games left, 4 of those need to be in win column if they want to get a good seed and have some momentum heading into March. It starts with a home game against Georgia who just got blown out by Oklahoma.
Can the Cats bounce back?