Mark Pope has long been known for his offensive mentality focused on scoring from long distance; the three-pointer has both made and broken his teams in the past yet, regardless of the result, Kentucky's head coach won't shy away from the philosophy. On the surface, thankfully, the roster he's put together for the 2026-27 season appears built to succeed with such a system.
But a recent practice report from Pope is eerily reminiscent of one that preceded one of the worst scoring teams Rupp Arena has ever seen. In an interview with Jon Rothstein, Pope shared a statistical look inside Kentucky's summer reps: "Right now in the summer, we have six guys that are over 70% in all of their practice reps shooting the ball from the three-point line."
Does that sound familiar, Big Blue Nation? It should, because he said the exact same thing about last year's roster, and even closer to the beginning of that season.
Reported by A Sea of Blue's Chris Beasmore in September, Pope said, "But now, as of last week, we’ve got six guys above 70 percent from three, and a seventh hovering right below that.”
That's almost the same quote verbatim, shared nearly one year apart about two completely different teams. We just have to hope with all our might that, this time around, that's a real possibility. If this year's team is shooting the ball anything like the one before them, Kentucky could be in real trouble.
Pope's Dire Comparison
That is, because last year's team finished the year shooting a composite 34.1% from range. Collin Chandler was the best three-point shooter on the team, nailing an impressive 41% of his attempts (he's gone now, of course); beyond him, the only player to fully eclipse 36% from the arc was Denzel Aberdeen, and he just barely managed to do so.
Kam Williams came in right behind him, at 35.9%. Guys like Jaland Lowe and Brandon Garrison shot it sub-25% on the year. That doesn't just sound dire - a repeat of that performance from range could spell doom for a Kentucky team that, according to their head coach, is again set to rely on it.
Pope wants Milan Momcilovic to take ten threes all by himself. To be remotely as good as the Cats need to be, they'll have to excel from beyond the arc. The good news is, on paper, this team seems far more suited to Pope's lofty practice claims.
Breathe in, breathe out, BBN. We've got hope in the new guys.
Hope in the New Guys
Not only did Momcilovic lead the nation shooting 48.7% from behind the line in his junior run with Iowa State, but fellow transfer Justin McBride is coming off of a season in which he managed 40% from range with James Madison.
Jerone Morton neared that number, at 38.7%, and the aforementioned Williams should also manage to improve in a rotation that has more options (and hopefully better health) to spread out his attempts. After all, if anyone is able to hit eight triples in a game, the potential is there for a real hot streak from outside.
Kentucky has the tools to run the sort of offense Mark Pope has long desired, but it's fair to worry when we heard, and even thought, the exact same thing last offseason. We just have to believe that those practice numbers translate to live action this time around, even if only because I'm not sure Lexington can take another double-digit-loss season.
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