One week after Kentucky’s thrilling win over No. 1 Purdue, reality hit hard in Rupp Arena. The Wildcats were stunned by Georgetown, 84–70, in an exhibition that looked every bit as rough as the score suggested. Mark Pope didn’t hide his frustration — but he also saw the loss as a teaching moment his young team desperately needed.
“Really, really disappointing night for me… on this sacred, hallowed court,” Pope said during his postgame radio interview. “This is a really important night for us to get better. So many teams are going to play us with this exact same game plan.”
It wasn’t the shooting — it was the dysfunction
Yes, Kentucky’s shooting was dreadful. The Wildcats went just 33.3% from the field and missed all 13 of their three-point attempts in the second half. But Pope wasn’t focused on the missed shots — he was more concerned with how disconnected his team looked offensively.
“That’s the last thing I’ll evaluate,” Pope said of the poor shooting. “We’ll shoot the ball well. What bothered me was the dysfunctionality — we didn’t manage the game the way we should. We left a lot on the table in terms of making plays for each other.”
With both of Kentucky’s top point guards sidelined, the offense fell apart. Ball movement vanished. Possessions turned into isolation plays. The Wildcats ended the night with 15 turnovers, only 14 assists, and a mere 20 made field goals — a far cry from the fluid, unselfish team that dismantled Purdue a week earlier.
A failure to adjust
Georgetown’s defensive approach gave Kentucky problems all night — and Pope admitted his team struggled to adapt.
“They were in an Aggie switch defensively, which we had talked about, but we hadn’t really practiced it,” Pope explained. “We never got good at working to the second side. We were hesitant to make that first cut.”
For context, the “Aggie switch” defense is designed to funnel ball handlers into a help defender who’s waiting to take a charge or clog the lane. It forces offenses to rely on quick passing and confident decision-making — neither of which Kentucky delivered on Thursday night.
The result was predictable: bad spacing, rushed shots, and a Georgetown team that smelled blood.
A hard lesson before the games start to count
As frustrating as the night was, Pope believes this kind of adversity might be the wake-up call his team needs before the regular season begins.
“This game matters — even if it doesn’t count,” Pope emphasized.
Kentucky may have taken a step back on the scoreboard, but in Pope’s mind, the bigger picture is about growth. The Wildcats now have film, frustration, and a clear list of flaws to fix before the lights come on for real.
And for a coach who preaches accountability, that might be exactly the kind of “important” night he wanted — even if it came wrapped in disappointment.
