Mark Pope’s takeaways after his Kentucky basketball team’s 74-71 win over Tennessee

A full transcript of coach Mark Pope’s press conference after his Kentucky men’s basketball team beat Tennessee 74-71 at Rupp Arena on Saturday night. Pope was joined on stage by former teammates from Kentucky’s 1996 NCAA championship team.

Mark Pope: All right. First, congratulations to Tennessee, man. What a game. What a game. I’m just happy for... it was a great college basketball game. man. It was elite-level talent on the floor making big-time plays. Two teams really fighting it out. I’m just really grateful to be a part of it. We had a normal Kentucky circus day today. Our partners at Nike are unbelievable. It’s the best partnership in sports. They take such great care of us. We’re grateful to Book for bringing so much love and juice back to Kentucky with these Book denims. We’re grateful for Nike for taking care of our guys and these incredible jackets and all the gear they did and bringing back the denim uniforms. The pop-up store was awesome. We’re grateful for BBN for showing out and making that really special. Just grateful to Nike, and that partnership is awesome.

And I’m proud of our guys, man, I talked to our guys before we went out in the locker room, because there’s just so much – it’s Kentucky. There’s so much noise surrounding everything these guys do, and honoring the denim and bringing back the denim was such a big deal and such a big storyline. And I talked to them right before, and I said, ‘Guys, I know all this is going on, but this is not about 30 years ago. This is not about denim. This is not about anything except for the story that you guys are writing right now.’ Because the story that these guys are writing right now is awesome. It’s their story, and if you’re not enjoying it, if you’re not on this ride with us, I feel bad for you, because it just is what it is, man. It might not be the normal way we do things here in Kentucky, but it’s pretty great. So, take questions. These guys will take questions too.

What I can’t wait for, honestly, I cannot wait to go watch the film. I’m not even gonna watch what’s happening on the court. I’m gonna go watch these guys the whole time behind the bench. I cannot wait. OK, sorry.

Q: What does it mean, now that it’s over, what’s it mean to you personally, to win a game like this with these guys back?

Pope: Well, it means that our group text is not going to be quite so vile.

This is not about me, and it’s actually not about us. It’s about the guys that played. But on a very personal level, it means, because I love these guys so much, man, and I don’t know. Like, Al went to unbelievable lengths to get here today. We talk three or four, five times a year – and I’m just using Al because he’s standing right here – but the connection that we have, like, you can’t buy it. There’s nothing in the world like it. I care about these guys so much. I love them so much, and so I’m grateful that they could be honored in all the ways that they got honored today, and I’m grateful that our team was able to honor them with a win, because that matters too. It matters to me.

Q: This team lacks maybe a guy, like a go-to scoring guy, but you’ve got a whole cast behind you that formed one of the most cohesive teams in Kentucky history. What can you say about this year’s team kind of playing into that same team-first, die-for-each-other identity?

Pope: Well, I would like this team to continue to adopt that. We don’t have that many guys on the roster anymore, but everybody is stepping up. I thought we got unbelievable contributions from Jasper Johnson. He’s in the guts of the game, like, he’s probably our best option. He was terrific. BG, again, gave us real juice. Mo Dioubate maybe didn’t have his best game, but... I don’t understand how every clutch offensive rebound at the free-throw line, he comes up with one big one down the stretch of every single game, Collin Chandler continues to be, like, ice in his veins. One of my favorite moments of the game was after he banged that 3 – which was just cold, man – we walked to the huddle, and Otega grabbed him and went eye-to-eye with him, and was like, ‘You are a cold…,’ and then there was a lot of other words. And when you earn that from your teammates, then you start to feel like we got to feel. Otega’s carrying a lot of weight, and for him to be, like, ‘Man, I got a guy out here who was going to step up and just be and just make shots.’ And Malachi. How physical was Malachi, offensively in the post tonight? I mean, we could have milked him a lot more. He was just, he was a monster. He was so determined in the post offensively. Go down the list of everybody – Trent, DA – you know, everybody we have contributed. So we need everyone, and everyone’s showing up, and we’re making it really dramatic.

Q: You mentioned, this team is writing its own story. But how much do you feel like they understand what it means to play for UK now, where you’re getting this kind of an effort, and there won’t be any games like like a Gonzaga or something like that from the past?

Pope: I mentioned this to our guys that, you know these denim uniforms when we first got them, I don’t think any of us – did guys like them? I don’t think anybody liked them. Who made them? Converse? I don’t even think Congress liked them originally. When I walked into the locker room today and saw the guys for the first time. I seriously was like, ‘I just have deja vu.’ It was crazy. But we came to love them, not because they were denim but because (of) what these guys did wearing them.

Guys, I can come here and I can talk to them until I’m blue in the face, and BBN can reach out to them non-stop. But you don’t really understand what this is until you have bled and suffered and sacrificed for this place. That’s actually what makes this jersey great. And these guys are in the process of doing it, man. They just refuse. I mean, the hits we’ve taken this year, I wouldn’t wish on anybody. But these guys refuse to go away, and so that’s why they’re actually making -- they’re making this great. They’re earning the understanding what needs to be Kentucky by their blood, sweat, tears. It’s super cool.

Q: Coach, you guys now won eight of your last nine games. Can you talk about the individuals in the locker room that are taking on those leadership roles that maybe weren’t there early in the season?

Pope: Yeah, let me brag about our staff. So Mikhail McLean gave one of the great pregame speeches today. So our staff is stepping up. Coach Fox had this scout, and this Tennessee team is really good, man. They’ve been playing elite-level basketball, and they got a top-three, definitely a top-five pick on the team that showed out tonight and is just really challenging. And this Gillespie is a veteran, veteran. Just a tough kid. And we’re getting huge contributions from our staff, those two and the rest of the guys on staff also, and our players are just in it together, man. It’s a short, short rotation. We don’t have a deep bench, but these guys are fighting for each other.

Q: Mark, can you take us through that last 3 by Collin, and especially leading up to the 3, O’s drive and the body control and the vision to get it out there to him?

Pope: So we actually changed up the play. We were going to a back-same rip, and I was gonna have DA be the snap guy. And then, literally as we’re walking on the floor I was talking to Otega about ‘Ah, maybe the reject feels good.’ And so we ended up sending him and O is just – the way he’s grown, it just is incredible. Like, it’s really incredible. He did not have a good first half. He was really frustrated on the defensive end. A lot of that had to do with Tennessee, but, man, he stepped up and made great under-control, super-physical demanding plays. And then, you know, Collin Chandler just continues to – it’s been every game. I mean, every game’s like – the scout on him is going to be in the last four minutes, like, just face guard him at 94 feet and don’t let him touch the ball, because he just makes it. But he’s making (plays) on the defensive end, on the glass, making on the offensive end. So, you know, we’re enjoying that. It makes my job way easier, for sure.

Q: Mo Dioubate, quiet on the box score, as you mentioned, the two rebounds, one of them huge at the end of the game, his four points, they were an answer that cut Tennessee’s lead down to six. How important has he been, stepping into almost that clutch role, especially in these games that are decided within a few points?

Pope: It is so important to have a player that will make the – like, the plays he’s making are not, the stuff that you see on SportsCenter top 10, but they’re the plays that win. His offensive rebounds down the stretch in the last three minutes at Tennessee are what won us the game. His offensive rebound at the free-throw line is the play that sealed the game for us today. And you just can’t overstate the value of that. Sometimes it’s hard to love that as a player, when that’s who you are, which is unfortunate, because everybody else in the league would kill to have that guy that’s just going to go make that play. I actually thought Mo was cooking for a game. I thought our guys offensively, I thought our execution early was unbelievable. Hitting the short roll. We just got a little rushed. Our short-roll guys, they had all the whole world in front of them. We just got a little rushed, but we were making the plays we needed to just.We just didn’t finish after that.

He was in line to have a great game, but he got a little frustrated there. Maybe had some defensive miscues. Their size bothered us on that. You know, their short-roll big-to-big plays were great. They’re really good at getting that short roll and just kind of throwing it to the rim and trusting their player’s going to be there. We adjusted that late. We were better when we started zoning up and being in a real C3. But you know, Mo just makes huge plays down a stretch, and he’s really good. We’re grateful to have him.

Q: You mentioned a little bit earlier, the ice in his veins, but it feels like it doesn’t matter what kind of game he’s having. You put the ball in Collin Chandler’s hands late, he’s gonna hit a shot. As a coach, you know, do you feel weight lifted on your shoulders when you see him shoot it? Or are you still tense?

Pope: I feel like it’s going in. I feel like it’s going in, and I feel good when he’s shooting it. We have a pretty faithful team, and our guys are -- man, they’re earning their belief. You know, confidence is an interesting thing because, because you don’t have confidence. No one gives you confidence. You go earn confidence. You earn it. You have to go earn it. You do it by being resilient and never giving up and keep hitting and hitting and coming back and coming back and coming back, and our guys are earning some confidence.

Q: Mark, you talked early in the year about this team having to learn to win together, lose together. Even mentioned early on in the year about, you know, things that happened after certain games, but then maybe just a minute was the loudest I’ve ever heard that locker room from inside this room. You celebrated with the BBN afterwards. How’s this team coming together as a group through this winning and through this stretch and through the tough times?

Pope: I think it’s belief. I really do. I think it’s part losing ourselves in our commitment to the team. One of the things about taking some tough losses is that it can steal you of your own personal agendas really fast. If you’re willing to be humble, it can steal your personal agendas really fast. And the blessing of it is, if you do it right, once you lose those agendas, you have a chance to be together. And I think our guys are celebrating each other.... Listen, they feel the pressure. They feel all the pressure. It was probably a bad idea, I had these guys talk to them right after shootaround, and you could just feel -- you have these legends walking into our huddle, and you feel the pressure, right? But our guys are leaning on each other and they’re delivering.

Q: It feels like Otega goes out and gets 20 every night. What has his consistency done to help this team as they kind of found their way?

Pope: Yeah, it’s unbelievable what he does. It just is really incredible. Like I said, I don’t think he was very pleased with his first half. We switched. We actually moved him off off 10 and put Collin on 10, and Colin did a really admirable job in the second half. And Otega did an unbelievable job on Gillespie. Unbelievable job on Gillespie in the second half. He had to manage every single possession working those high ball screens, and his defense is what was so much better in the second half. But he brings it every night. He just is a warrior, and his competitive spirit continues to grow, and he’s putting together a season. I don’t know. H’s somewhere. He’s got to be somewhere in pretty exclusive company with what he’s doing in SEC play right now. It’s unbelievable how consistent he is. It’s pretty special.

Q: Mark, we heard a lot about after last season, when defense was not a strength at times, that a point of emphasis for this season was getting better defensively. When you look at the second half, holding them 6 of 30 from the field. If you take away Ament, they’re 3 for 24 is that about as good a half of defensive basketball as this team has played in your two seasons here?

Pope: We weren’t very good in the first half. We were not good. We were giving up open 3. We died in every gap in the first half. It was really frustrating. But our dedication -- listen, to take this team that’s a terrific offensive team with elite-level talent, and holding them to 37% from the field is a major accomplishment. And our goal is to hold teams to 39%. We haven’t had a ton of success at that. That’s a pretty ambitious goal. But you hold a team at 37% you’re going to win most times, and we had to. I mean, they outrebound us by 15. So it was really important for us, and I was proud of how our guys stepped up in the second half. Holding them to 20% in the second half is a big deal. Listen, probably don’t win this game without BBN in the gym. Just to be honest. BBN, the volume of this place, like the gym, was electric tonight. BBN was on it. I don’t know if people had been partying for four hours before the game, but it was great in the gym, and that’s exhausting as an opponent. To not just withstand the push of our play, but also this crowd, I think it’s really hard, and they certainly contributed to the second half woes for Tennessee.

Q: What does it say that you had so many different guys make clutch plays? You have Collin, obviously, Mo, but then Denzel hit those free throws at the end, so guys were able to make that play. And then kind of the second part of the question, since you all won in them, does that mean the denims might come back again?

Pope: Yeah. So there was some conversation with you guys, right? Somebody was saying, we have to wear them every game now, yeah.(Until you lose.) Why are we talking about losing? Why are we talking about losing? Can we crush Cam? Can we talk about Cam’s speech to the guys. Did he really say it doesn’t really matter, if you win or lose?

Q: Mark, most of the guys on that stage right now could have gone elsewhere and played 35 minutes a game. We all know what you guys accomplished with sacrifice. You talked about that to the media. Have you talked about that much with your guys, with your team, and use them as an example?

Pope: Yeah, a lot. And here’s the thing. So yeah, we talk about it all the time, and talking takes us so far, like we talked about earlier, and the experience takes you the final steps, right? The experience is what really gets you there. The sacrifice is what gets you there. There’s nowhere else in the country where 30 years later you’re walking in the gym like these guys get to walk in the gym. Ad that’s what you get in Kentucky. There’s nowhere else. It’s just, there’s nowhere else where you’re walking the gym 30 years later, still really handsome, maybe put on a couple lbs, but where you’re walking in the gym and getting the reception that you do here from BBN. There’s nowhere else. And so that’s the family you join here at Kentucky that’s unlike anywhere else. And I know these guys wouldn’t trade it for anything, and I wouldn’t either. Thank you guys.