With 1:30 left in a 46-point blowout, Kentucky fans saw a bizarre sight: Mark Pope checked his starting five back into the game. It was a move that had fans and media baffled. Was he trying to run up the score? Was he sending a message?
After the game, Pope was asked what he was doing. His answer was a stunning, almost unbelievable story of in-game accountability, and it proves he is not messing around.
“At the last media timeout, we had a little incident in the huddle, I’m not going to talk about that right now. Kidding, that’s a joke,” he started.
He then got dead serious.
“I’ll be totally transparent. I’ve been... disappointed with my ability and commitment to explain to our guys what it means to sprint back in transition defense... we were seeing not an effort that’s not a championship effort tonight, for most of the night.”
Kentucky basketball's new 'teaching moment'
Pope then revealed the "moment of sheer inspiration" he had. He told his team about a new "teaching moment" for transition defense.
“Every time our guys are in a full sprint back in transition, a full sprint, it will be a ladder, a run. If you don’t sprint back in transition it would be 10 ladders... And then I wasn’t getting a great response so then we went to a 17 for every time that we don’t sprint back.”
He clarified this "teaching" would happen at the next practice, not in the game. So why put the starters back in?
“I put that on us on the group that was in the game at the media timeout and I wanted to give the starters a chance to run also and it was really functional for us and it was really good. It was probably one of the most productive things from the whole night.”
He wasn't putting them in to run up the score. He was putting them in to run up their ladder count for the next practice. That is an elite level of intensity and accountability, and it's a message that will surely be received.
At least they will be in great shape, right?
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