UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY MEN’S BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 26, 2024

Lexington, Kentucky, USA

Coach Mark Pope

Press Conference

Kentucky 87, Western Kentucky 68

MARK POPE: Congratulations to Western Kentucky for a great hard-fought battle.  It’s a good team. It’s a NCAA tournament team. Returning eight guys from a team that made an unbelievable run down the stretch last season to go win their conference tournament, go to the NCAA tournament. Played really really hard, heavy heavy pressure.  I thought they were terrific tonight.  They are going to have a really great season, and these in-state games are always fun for everyone and it was really good for our guys. I’m proud of how our guys responded and kept grinding and grinding and grinding away.  We felt like this was a great run.  Potentially a first round game for us, that’s how the guys wanted to go into this game and it was exactly kind of what we wanted. There was a ton of frustration oozing throughout the whole game and I thought our guys did a great job of staying together and just kind of being okay with just going to move on to the next play and we certainly didn’t play close to perfect, but I thought the guys were in it the whole time.  So, it’s awesome, have a great Thanksgiving.

Q Mark, as back-and-forth as that game felt. At some points, that’s the lowest you guys have held a team to field goal percentage so far this year.  What did you like with the defensive effort and the response when things did get too close? 

MARK POPE: I thought we had some great defensive efforts. I thought Jaxson Robinson was unbelievable on the defensive end. I thought he was fantastic. And Lamont and Otega set the bar really, really high. I thought those guys were great.  Andrew Carr, I thought was great in every facet of the game tonight, I thought Andrew was just a star on both sides of the ball – all sides of the ball.  I’m really proud of that, that matters to us. The defensive field-goal percentage is really, really, really important to us. It’s a cumulative effect. It’s not just us really focusing on being there on the catch and being disciplined about guarding vertically without fouling, but it’s also the pace of the game starts to have impact and movement starts to have impact and all those things working together. I was really proud of us defensively. There were several stretches in the game where we weren’t functioning great on the offensive end and we were finding great joy on the defensive end of the ball and that is a winning formula. Like we are going to have games, where I mean you know, it wasn’t a great offensive game for our guys. They still scored 87 points. That’s the crazy part of it, right?  But on the defensive end of the floor if we can really find joy there and if we keep going back to the well over and over again, we have a chance to win. We have a chance to win and win a lot of games and win big. So, I was thrilled with that tonight. It was really special. It might not be the most aesthetically pleasing thing, but it was an awesome effort on the defensive end by our guys.

Q Hey Mark, back corner.  Right over here. There it is.  Hank was talking about the way you guys cut to the basket hard-full speed on. On a night like tonight when your three ball is not really falling the way it used to.  Do you learn a little bit more about your guys to stick to it and keep attacking the basket and not let it affect them?

MARK POPE: Yeah, we weren’t great there tonight. But the truth is we haven’t really faced this pressure, right?  But we are going to.  We are going to face it a lot. I was really, really excited going into this game because we just need to learn and grow and this is kind of the next step of evolution for the way we play.  When we get right, we actually really, really punish teams for pressuring.  And that’s just, it’s going to be a growth phase for us to understand what that looks like and what it means. We don’t quite have that feel. We never got a late cut.  We didn’t get over back door. We didn’t really work the second side well.  We were kind of dying in the corner and would get to a second lift and then be dying in the corner on the rotation. There is so much more in the tank for our guys to feel out and it’s just a matter of getting the reps to do it, getting the reps to do it. I was really, really looking forward to this game just so we could feel that and get it on tape and our guys will grow really fast in that area. You know, I’m glad that they felt that but we are barely, barely dipping our toe in the water of what would be in that perspective.

Q Mark, over here, there we go. This game and the Duke game kind of muddy and kind of grinded out type of games.  Both times you looked at the stat sheet-

MARK POPE: Can we just sit in the same spot every, I think you guys do sit in the same spot.  Sorry, it’s like where’s Waldo in here, it’s awesome. 

Q This game and the Duke game kind of grinded out physical type games and both times you look at the top of the stat sheet, there’s Andrew Carr’s name. What is it about his play? 

MARK POPE: Well, Andrew has always been known as a really, really physical player.  I’m joking a little bit.  He’s got a really true physicality and I thought his focus was unbelievable tonight. Our guys have a goal, one specific goal every time we walk into the practice. Our assistant coaches, our staff does an unbelievable job of giving our guys one very specific goal. So,  Andrew Carr’s goal yesterday was to demand a catch, even to the point of yelling and screaming at his teammates, just one time to earn a catch. That was his goal yesterday.  He was unbelievable today, winning catches and being physical with the ball, like he was really special.  And these really specific measurable attainable goals that our staff worked so hard with our players to have every single day, they pay off. And it’s a great example, a terrific example and I thought he was great today and I thought he was demanding. I thought he protected the ball. You think about all the possessions he had against a swarming, swarming super talented defense. I think they are 52 or 62 in the country defensively right now. But this swarming defense they had against a bunch of undersized guys that could be really frustrating for a guy built like Andrew Carr and he has three assists, zero turnovers, 18 points, 10 rebounds guy and was ridiculously efficient and tough with the ball.  Super proud of him.

Q Mark, You mentioned the in-state –

MARK POPE: He also shot a turnaround jumper long which he’s missed the last three or four short. He shot it long and actually bounced off the back of the rim, went in. These little things that he’s focused on are pretty great, sorry.

Q You mentioned the in-state aspect of this game. Is this a game that you personally wanted when you got on the schedule and are you dedicated, is the word to get one of these in-state schools on every year? 

MARK POPE: I think in-state games are great because they are always tough. There’s just added emption, right? There is some pride to it and all of the things.  And so when we get them they will be super useful. I did not set out, I think this was actually, I think this was one of the ones that was out of my hands and part of the MTE.  Listen, Western Kentucky has an incredible basketball history. I love everything about the team except for that red color, it just drives me crazy. The coach is doing a great job and you know, they are a national brand and they got a ton of pride and they have a really good veteran team coming back that went to the tournament last year.  I like it because it was a good game and I like it cause the in-state game.

Q Coach, you talked about Otega being maybe your most consistent player after the last game.  Tonight, he led in the plus minus with 18.  How helpful is it knowing what you’re going to get from him? 

MARK POPE: Otega, man, he’s been like clockwork. He didn’t have his best start. He’s had been this incredible dynamic start the game guy. He was just solid to start the game. But as the game went on it got better and better and he’s such a luxury.  You know, listen, I mean, this is a talented offensive team with a bunch of guys that are really talented scorers individually.  Otega was a large part to holding them to 32% from the field for the game. It’s hard to do with 15% from the three-point line and Otega was a massive part of that. He just keeps producing offensively.  If you just look at his box score tonight, he’s got 18 and he’s pretty efficient, six for 14 and five from six from the free-throw line.  He never passes the ball, he doesn’t really believe in passing, otherwise he’s great.  I’m kidding about that, of course.

Q Mark, a little bit of follow-up on Andrew Carr, kind of a two part deal, if I can make it short enough.  Their coach said that he got 18 tonight.  It didn’t even look like he was trying to score. I’m curious about how that goes to you challenging him to kind of demand the ball and seek it out more.  The second part is it seem like you went small a couple of times with him, him and four guards kind of gave you some spurts. 

MARK POPE: Yep. We were a little more effective going small today and it was a little bit better for us match up wise and it was a little bit more offensively a little bit.  It gave us a little bit of a different look.  Yeah, Andrew has been special, you know.  You have the luxury of him being a starting forward that you don’t have to run a ton of actions for. You can kind of pick and choose and he will manufacture points.  If you think about it, he’s 6’11” and he’s handling the ball full-court a lot. He was handling the ball against a lot of pressure tonight and he was not just making a simple play but he was pretty demanding. He’s a zero turnover guy on the night.  He’s putting himself in a lot of traffic and a lot of harms way and still off the bounce is a zero turnover guy. That’s really significant. It speaks well to his vision and understanding of the pieces on the court and where guys are and where he can take risks and where he can’t.  He brings a physicality, he definitely did tonight.  He brought a physicality.  You saw him late in the game, the last 10 minutes go twice really hard over his left shoulder and be really demanding and kind of going through bodies and that’s Andrew Carr that’s really special.

Q Coach Pope, you talked about how defensively the pressure from Western Kentucky was really strong and one of the best you have seen so far this season. You and Coach Plona are two coaches at your perspective programs. What are some things that you are seeing at his program that you like and so far what he’s trying to build there and similar to you, what you are trying to build? 

MARK POPE: Yeah, I love he’s playing a lot of guys and he’s got his guys playing really, really hard and he’s playing an aggressive style of play and willing to take some chances out there.  They are going to continue to be really, really good.  It’s a terrific program.

Q Coach, you had 54 rebounds tonight.  How important was it to get those type of rebounds in this type of game? 

MARK POPE:  It’s really important for us. This was a little bit of a slugfest game. I didn’t think we were great to 50-50 balls.  That was the one thing, especially in the second half, from minute 17 down to minute seven I was like, oh man, we are kind of getting crushed with his 50-50 ballgame and where we are usually really, really good. But otherwise, I thought we grounded up great.  I’m really proud of the guys. It’s fun. Like we can win different ways, that’s really, really important. That bodes well for our guys and our team.  Tonight, being dominant on the glass and imposing our will physically was really, really important and I thought our guys did that.  You know, for Amari to play simi limited minutes, it was under 20 and have 10 rebounds. And for Andrew Carr to get 10 and for us to be at 54 as a team is really, really important for us.  You know, one of the numbers that we love is we are a 16 offensive rebound team by four.  You know, shooting 40% from the field and we out offensive rebound Western Kentucky, which is a really good offensive rebound team by four and they shot32%. Right?  They had more opportunities.  Those numbers are really important for us and the fact that we can go grind out a game and win it.  It’s awesome.  This is really important. I’m really proud of our guys.

Q WKU kept it close somewhere in the half.  What do you tell your team when they have to overcome adversity? 

MARK POPE: We talk about frustration into fight all the time.  Our guys know that. The game is going to offer you all the frustration you can possibly have. The guys that metabolize that frustration really quick and get it out are great.  We had some guys that maybe got stuck in a little bit of frustrated mode. For the most part, our team kept looking internally and kept looking inward and we are pretty good at metabolizing frustration.  That is massively important. Especially, our run here for the next couple of weeks is super challenging. And then, you know, we jump into this league. We had nine teams in the SEC in the top 25 and it’s like back in the heyday. It’s going to be a gauntlet. Our ability to absorb and metabolize frustration and get it out really quick is going to be massively important.  I like where we are right now.  We have to keep growing and get better and better at that, but I like where we are.

Q Coach, Western’s leading scorer, Don McHenry,  you held him to nine points tonight and he was one for seven from three and 16 from the field.  What is your game plan to stop Don?

MARK POPE: He’s a terrific player. We had to pay a lot of attention to him and he’s a really, really terrific player. Our guys paid good attention to Scout. He’s got such a great burst. He’s a start, stop, start, stop, start, stop, hesitation guy.  Our guys were really good dialing in on him and that’s an important part of this game for sure. He’s a very talented player.

Q Mark, Western Kentucky last year with the former coach was the most up-tempo team int he country, they remain that this season. How beneficial was it for you guys to go against a team like that especially when it gets to SEC play?

MARK POPE: It was really good for as because we will feel this dynamic in the game a lot. I think this will be something that’s present. I was proud of a couple of things.  One, against Jackson State, we had a couple transition offense opportunities where we had highlight play and they raced it back down the floor against us for a quick score and that was supposed to be us, right?  That was frustrating. I think our guys did a great job addressing that minus some transition after turnovers, I thought our guys were pretty good after inexplicably after a couple of free throw’s, we weren’t great.  I was glad that we got better. We made some progress tonight in that area.  We got a ton of data now, a ton a film where we can really go back and show our guys, listen, when you feel pressure, this is how you want to attack it.  It’s going to make us way better and it’s probably the most important part of this game is how was going to make us grow.

Q Coach, when you came into this program the fans were obviously a big deal. When Western to be able to close that lead to six points in the second half, the fans just erupted and were cheering for the team. How important is it for the fans to you in this game? 

MARK POPE: We can’t do this without BBN.  And why would we want to, right?  It’s the best relationship there is in college sports and maybe all sports together, right? I may be biased, but I believe it’s the best relationship in all of sports. We love it, I love that people came and showed out and support these guys and celebrate with them and at some point we are all going to suffer a little bit together and then we are going to celebrate with tears of joy together and the fact we get to do it together, all 22,000 of us, give or take something, is awesome.  It’s awesome. We had a friend come to the game who has never missed a Kentucky game, ever.  This was the first time he’s ever actually been in the gym for a Kentucky game. That is just like, come on, man, there’s nothing like BBN.  It’s awesome. It’s really great.  Happy Thanksgiving.  I hope you guys have a great, great great Thanksgiving. We got a lot to be thankful for. I’m super grateful for you guys and I’m grateful for you guys telling these stories. Even when you guys start writing terrible things about me, I will still be grateful for you. Have a happy Thanksgiving.

KENTUCKY MEN’S BASKETBALL POSTGAME QUOTES
KENTUCKY VS. WKU
RUPP ARENA – LEXINGTON, KY.
NOVEMBER 29, 2024 

KENTUCKY STUDENT-ATHLETES

#00, Otega Oweh, G

On what the halftime message was from Coach Pope …
“It wasn’t really a speech. He likes to let us talk and figure out what we have to do. He asks us questions about what we see out there and stuff like that. A lot of it was kind of visible. They were driving on us a lot, so we had to guard better and we had to get some more boards. I think at halftime we only had like two more boards. So a lot of it was trying to get back to what we do and be the more aggressive team because they were in the first half.”

On what he is looking for most at Thanksgiving …
“The food for sure. That is just a day where we can go crazy and eat. I love food, so that is what I am going to do.”

On how he can keep the consistency up …
“Just going into every game with the same mindset and trying to be aggressive and go after the ball. I think that is what I bring to the team is being a two-way player. I am just trying to be aggressive every single game and do the things that I can control.”

#77, Kerr Kriisa, G

On offensive rebounding …
“Offensive rebounding is really big for us because we do shoot a lot of 3s so we get long rebounds. We won the defensive rebounding battle with high amounts and it was cool for me to see how we got to the free throw line. We haven’t done that a lot yet this year.”

On hitting big 3s and BBN getting behind him …
“Yeah, I am just looking forward to SEC play. It means a lot for us. We don’t take that for granted. I don’t think it was completely sold out, but almost. You don’t ever take these games for granted. Once you go overseas, you are not going to have 20,000 people on a Tuesday night in a gym. So I really cherish these moments right now.”

On Andrew Carr’s performance …
“He was phenomenal. He has been phenomenal every night even if statistically it is not there. He attacks the game so many ways, maybe guys that just watch the freaking stats wouldn’t understand. It is expected from him and he delivers every night.”

#7, Andrew Carr, F

On if today’s game felt closer than other home games…

“I do not necessarily know about close but we certainly felt a lot more frustration in this game, certainly in the first half. We just were out of rhythm, on offense specifically, but credit to Western (Kentucky), they did a great job of pressuring us and trying to, you know, take away what we are looking for, and we are going to continue to grow and keep getting better at reading the way that people want to defend us and take advantage of that and punish the, for that. So I am excited.”

On how the team responded to WKU’s physicality…

“Yeah, you know, I think we did a great job responding, considering we shot as many free throws as we did. They were being super physical, and we tried to continue to fight through that and not let that impact what we wanted to do, specifically offensively. And so, you know, winning the catch a lot of times. So, I was really proud of the guys when we responded with that, and we got to the line a lot as well.”

On finding offense in such a defensive game…

“Yeah, you know, I have talked about it before, but we rely on our defense a lot, you know, I think that is the backbone of what we do. And so, you know, regardless of how our offense was going, I felt like we continue to do a great job defensively. They are super-fast and a high paced team. And you know, I was really proud of the way that we crashed the offense as fast and as hard as possible. But, you know, that is the first part of our defensive transition and the way we ran back, you know, we knew that they were going to put pressure on us and do that early in the clock. So, we are happy with how we were able to respond and hold them out of transition as much as possible.”

WKU HEAD COACH HANK PLONA

Opening Statement …

“Obviously, the game bottom line at the end you know we are a returning NCAA Tournament team, so we play every game to win and Kentucky is, as I am sure most of you know, is an impressive bunch. Disappointed, that I thought we had the game to within seven there in the second half and obviously there are some moments we thought we could have executed and completed a couple plays and hang in there a little bit more. At the same time, all in all, pleased with our fight and reliance, pleased with our effort, approach, and attitude. Obviously, they shoot the ball really well and they have a lot to do with that. But all in all, pretty pleased with our performance tonight and something we can use to improve and get us back to the tournament with is our ultimate goal.”

On how UK was doing offensively that challenged WKU defensively…

“I mean basketball is a game that is connected offense and defense. I thought there were a couple plays we did not complete the turn, maybe a shot didn’t go our way or we missed a shot at the rim, or maybe looked back for a foul call and all of a sudden you don’t get back on defense and they are able to run out and get some momentum. They are a very difficult team to guard. They’ve got four guys on the floor that can shoot at all times. At least one guy that’s among the best 3-point shooters in college basketball. So they stretch you out a little bit and we were trying to pressure while protecting the rim. They were slipping and cutting to the basket quite a bit. Their offense is very difficult and poses a lot of challenges to be perfectly honest with you guys. I thought during that stretch, that part of the game got a little up and down in our direction, that is when we had some good runs. If we didn’t score right away, I thought we were able to execute the halfcourt. Good things happen but that in between was a struggle for us we didn’t get a breakpoint. Our offense got a little stagnant or tired, we didn’t get much movement and we took a rush shot. These guys really make you pay for that, so they were able to get some runouts from that and kind of extend that lead back up.”

On WKU’s communication… 

“Guarding the 3-point line was certainly our main focus coming into the game. Lamont Butler, Jaxson Robinson and Koby Brea are elite shooters, I mean elite, elite shooters. They have five of the eight that are aggressive, the rest of the team had three. We trying to hold them to one each, we really wanted to set the goal at zero, but we thought if it was two combined we would be in good shape. But 8-of-29 is accomplishing our goal. They execute very well, they cut to the basket at full speed. When you stretch out and guard the line, I mean they are not just running their patterns, they are running their patterns changing speed, changing direction to a very high level. Obviously, they got the free throw line 29 point from the free throw line. It’s a physical game at the rim, I don’t know, maybe a couple of those when we were slow at the same time.”