‘Incredibly brutal.’ What Mark Pope said after Kentucky’s loss to Georgetown

A transcript of Kentucky basketball coach Mark Pope’s postgame news conference following the Wildcats’ 84-70 exhibition loss to Georgetown on Thursday at Rupp Arena.

Some questions have been modified for length and clarity. Mark Pope: It was exactly what we had kind of hoped to get out of this game. We just hoped we would have a different outcome. We’re massively disappointed with ever losing on this floor, so that’s brutal for us right now. And it’s not gonna sit well with our guys. It’s certainly not sitting well with me. And this is an unbelievable opportunity for us to learn so much. So it’s both those things, but that’s never gonna be an OK outcome for us. Hit me.

Q: Do you learn more from beating preseason No. 1 Purdue or taking it on the chin tonight?

Pope: I think both. I think this is really important. This is a really, really important game for us. You’re always looking to expose, to get exposed. Through these six weeks, you’re trying every way you can to expose yourself. They did an unbelievable job about exposing some spaces where we don’t expose ourselves and Purdue didn’t expose us. So it’s a terrific opportunity for us to learn, which is what we want right now. At the same time, we don’t do this here, so it’s both.

Q: You talked about wanting to be a top-10 team in defensive efficiency this season. Now that the regular season is almost here, what gives you confidence that that’s a realistic goal for this team?

Pope: I do think we have some toughness and some fight, although we were out-physicaled the whole night tonight. They really picked on us, which is gonna be something that — I’m grateful for that in the sense of it just puts it on film for our guys to understand better. But they were really successful. I thought Ed did an unbelievable job picking on us and put some of our guys in the grinder and guys, we just weren’t ready to step up to that challenge as a team. They did a nice job in the first half exploiting some ball-screen defensive issues, kind of getting rid of our third defender and playing a slip game. And then they really hurt us from midrange stuff downhill a bunch; either coming off kind of wide pins or getting downhill off ball screens hurt us. And in the second half they hurt us a little bit more in isolation. I thought we were a little bit better handling those things. We got more aggressive on ball-screen defense, and so most of the time that had a positive impact. It leaves me walking away thinking that there’s some space for us to play that way. It’s just that our third defender was poor all night long. And heavy credit to Georgetown for making that part of the game difficult for us. There’s so much to learn, so much to grow. That’s why we’re doing it.

Q: During practice yesterday we could hear you saying ‘Make the simple play.’ It seemed like that might have been an issue tonight.

Pope: Yeah, it’s interesting. So just in a general vibe of the game, we got slower and less patient instead of playing faster and more patient. And I know that sounds contradictory, but that’s exactly what happened to us tonight. It was a credit to Georgetown’s scheme and their physicality that we actually got slower and more impatient. So this is a great opportunity for us to learn how to kind of fall into ourselves a little bit better. But I felt like we turned down the simple play a lot. There were times where we did, where we just missed some shots, but I think Georgetown did a nice job kind of challenging us to really have to be insanely physical to get out of a power play and make a play for our teammates and we turned it down most of the time. Like, the film’s gonna be pretty brutal for us. But we have nothing to do with this now but to grow from it and to feel some pain and some embarrassment, and I hate every bit of it, but if we treat it right, it’ll serve us well.

Q: Last time Georgetown was here, Rupp Arena was a state-of-the art place. Even with the renovations, it’s not a 70-suites kind of place that maximizes revenue. How do you see the balance of resecting tradition, it means so much to play here, but we’re moving toward this college athletics landscape where it’s about maximizing revenue.

Pope: Yeah, there’s not an easy answer there. You’re gonna be threading the needle always. You can’t be held hostage by sentimentality and tradition, but you have to honor it. And so it’s both. Just like most things in life, it’s both. You got to find a way to move forward. We should be leading the way — which we do, Mitch and President Capilouto are leading the way in so many incredible ways. So we want to keep leading the way with innovation and kind of be in the forward-thinking group, but to do it while we’re honoring tradition. I know that’s — but that’s actually the real answer. And so we have to find a way to do that where we’re really, really emphasizing the beauty of this building that’s been here and celebrated great teams for so long.

Q: You said last season the assist-to-turnover ratio was a good indicator of where your team is. Tonight it was 14:15. Can you speak to that discrepancy?

Pope: to me, that was the indicator of the game for us. We see a number like that, and – our guys were actually really forceful getting downhill most of the game. We just fell into the trap of not doing that to make plays for teammates. It just is hard. And that’s that part of playing slower and getting more impatient. It’s kind of like you have to be good enough to put your head down and be insanely physical getting downhill but still have the insight and the IQ to, while you’re doing that, actually be a playmaker; not to lose your mental approach to the game as you bring on the physicality and kind of fall into the trap. I thought we were very poor at that tonight, and I’m really grateful that it happened now rather than the games coming up, because we’re gonna face this challenge over and over. I’ll be honest with you, this is painful. We’re not gonna sleep. This is never acceptable here. It’s the worst thing in the world, and I’m really grateful for it that it’s happening now, because it gives us a chance to learn and grow when we need to do that. And we can. I got unbelievably competitive guys. I have beautiful guys, and they care and they’re smart and will really, really learn and grow from this. In that sense, I couldn’t ask for anything better in a terribly awful painful exhibition game.

Q: Without Jaland and Denzel, what are you missing defensively?

Pope: Just a little bit more familiarity with being at the point of attack. But it’s a great opportunity for our younger guys to grow. It’s Collin Chandler’s first start ever. Jasper Johnson was put under real duress tonight, which is exactly what he needs. That’s how you grow and get better. I played Otega one more minute than I was supposed to; that’s not good. Kam Williams got a chance to kind of feel the physicality of the game, and he’s gonna really grow from that. I thought it was really good for our backcourt. I think it’s good for our whole team.

Q: Can you update us on Denzel’s injury and what Collin showed you tonight, both good and bad?

Pope: DA’s got a sore leg that he’s trying to get 100% healthy, and so we’re taking precaution with him. I don’t know where J-Lowe’s gonna be, but I’d like to have those guys back in action within the next week or two, I’m hoping. I thought Collin was exactly what you’d expect. I thought he battled. I thought he competed. I thought he made some mistakes. With Collin Chandler, the interesting thing is he played the most minutes on the team, and while playing the most minutes on the team he was one of the leaders in plus-minus in a game where we got kind of run out of our own gym. He’s 0 for 5 from 3. He’s got five turnovers. But still,he’s a minus-7 where we got a bunch of minus-16s and minus-10s and minus-nines on the score sheet. So he has a positive impact on the court. He’s gonna get way better. This was a first time for him, and I think he’s gonna be an outstanding player. Their disruptive gameplan to us — it was just an Aggie switch with a heavy bottom and a zoned-up big, a little bit of a medium-zoned-up big. That package is not something we play against ourselves, but we see it all the time over the course of the season, and so that was hard for our whole team to navigate a little bit. So I thought Collin was exactly what you saw tonight, both good and bad. He’s gonna be a terrific player.

Q: In your experience, how long has it taken you to realize how good your team was gonna end up being?

Pope: I don’t think it takes too long. I think this team has a ton of potential, but we’re not runaway good. We’re just team great. We can be team great. If we lean into each other and lean into what we do, we have a chance to be great. But we’re not gonna go just dominate people just because our individual talent is overwhelming. I actually love coaching this team that way. Like I said, incredibly brutal, unacceptable, disappointing night. But if we do this right — which I know our guys will — this is gonna progress us forward in a massive way. We just have to respond the right way. We’re gonna learn so much.

This story was originally published October 30, 2025 at 10:59 PM.