After Kentucky’s loss to Missouri, Mark Pope spoke to the media — and, honestly, he didn’t do himself any favors. Instead of reassuring fans, his quotes have BBN seeing red.
“We have to be able to execute better to win games,” Pope said.
If you watched the game, that line might have made you do a double take. Otega Oweh missed a layup. Brandon Garrison threw a disastrous bounce pass to Kam Williams that led to a turnover. Pope called it inexplicable: “The look was there, the play was there to be made. For some inexplicable reason, it doesn’t go the way we want it to.”
Translation: it wasn’t open — not even close. This wasn’t an execution problem; it was a decision-making failure under pressure. Throw in Jaland Lowe forcing a three-pointer after a timeout to ice the game, and it’s clear: the problem isn’t just execution — it’s coaching. Something has to change.
Scoring woes start with coaching
On the sideline, Pope looks lost, shuffling players in and out. Collin Chandler played just five minutes. Trent Noah hasn’t seen an SEC minute. Jayden Quaintance and Mo Dioubate sat while Malachi Moreno gave up an offensive rebound on a free throw.
Even team chemistry is messy. Dioubate yelled at Lowe against Alabama for not taking the game “seriously.” Against Missouri, he shouted at Moreno after a terrible pass — a play that wasn’t exactly clean on his end either. Pope insists it’s fine, saying the guys love each other. But fans seeing constant on-court arguments aren’t buying it.
The message isn’t sticking
Pope said, “Getting our group to believe in what we do and actually execute what we do, and then execute when the lights are on, has been incredibly challenging so far.”
That’s putting it lightly. The team doesn’t seem to fully buy in to what Pope is asking. Even after “simplifying” the offense, the message hasn’t sunk in.
“Our pace in the half court has been like the manifestation of the DNA of who we are on my teams, and it’s incredibly frustrating that we’re not finding that right now. That’s why we’re trying to simplify everything — dumb it down. Dumb it down so it’s just incredibly simple, so we can at least execute with some pace and some decision-making. We’re not there yet. Clearly.”
Clearly.
Kentucky failed to score 70 points at home in an SEC opener and lost as a double-digit favorite to Missouri. Pope keeps insisting fans will be proud and promising the team won’t “break.” But judging by social media, BBN might be breaking first.
He reminded fans they “have the right to do and say and act as they want.” And BBN is exercising that right loud and clear.
