UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY MEN’S BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 29, 2024
Lexington, Kentucky, USA
Coach Mark Pope
Press Conference

Kentucky 98, Minnesota State 67

MARK POPE: A good night for us. A really good night. So much of what we needed tonight. I was really happy with it. This Minnesota State team is defending national champs. I like the way they play. I like the way they approached the game. They traveled long and hard to get here. And so, it was good for us to have that experience. There was some flow of the game that was disappointing to us. There were some numbers in the game that we were really really excited about and it’s another chance to grow. I’m proud of our guys.                                                                                   

Q Mark. As a former 6’10” center, what makes Andrew Carr diferent than some other big guys, and also Brandon Garrison. What about his ceiling? 

MARK POPE: Andrew Carr is such a elite level decider. Like he’s really a capable decision maker. One, he’s 66% two-point shooter which is pretty incredible and he shot 38% from the three last year. So, he’s really wildly efficient at making shots. He makes shots. He stacks decisions. It’s something we saw in film from him last year at Wake Forest where he is turning the ball and someone jumps in the passing lane and he can actually stack a decision where he reads it correctly, gets downhill, gets to two feet, makes another ball fake, and then finally completes a pass or play. There’s not that many guys his size with his ability to make shots and finish shots that can stack decisions like him. He’s really special. I think he’s really really difficult to guard as a scorer and play maker. I think he’s good in both of those areas. I thought he had a real challenge defensively. Sometimes when you are playing undersized teams that really shoot one through four and at times one through five, you know, and he’s got to race around the floor and guard smaller guys. And I thought his attention to detail on the defensive end was really terrific tonight. It was much improved from his defensive performance was much improved from our first exhibition. I was really proud of him tonight.

Q Mark. Have you ever had a player play with the pace that Kerr plays with. Is there such thing as too fast coming of a made basket or anything, the way he goes like that?

MARK POPE: He’s such an infusion of energy, right? Which is such a beautiful thing. It was a little weird for us tonight. You know, we are getting initial thrust and stymie and our transition from that original thrust into our actions was a little weird. We spent 20 minutes on the floor without one of our traditional five, which is such an important piece for us. And so that was a little weird. Man, he’s going to be really fun and he’s really dangerous. As we feel that space more, it’s going to be fun. It was really important to get him on the court tonight so he can just be out there under the lights.

Q Coach. Could you give us an update, if you have any on Amari Williams. And then after that, when he was out there, what does it do for your offense when he can pass out of the post like that and he made the behind the back pass? Outside of scoring, defending, what does that passing ability do for you?

MARK POPE: It’s key for us and key for everything we do. We run a lot through our biggs. It’s really important. He’s got a really unique skill set. I think he’s doing fine. You know, I think x-rays came back solid. But we will get some more imaging tomorrow. We are hopefull he will be back soon.

Q Coach. I know that the 3-point game is a really big part of your offense. Are you pretty happy with how you guys are kind of shooting the ball offensively right now? And I know Jaxson was a huge, huge part of the three game tonight. What does that say about how he’s playing right now?

MARK POPE: You know. I wasn’t really thrilled with us in the first half from the three-point line. I felt like it was – it happens all the time. It happens to every team I’ve ever coached. You go bang 21 and you think, we’re just gonna – you know, its like everything in the supermarket is free. Just grab it and throw it in the bag. Right? It’s not that we did a much better job as the game went on about earning shots for each other. There is a huge difference. It might be imperceptible difference when you just isolate shots. But how you earn those shots matter. The karma of this game matters. It is wildly important. I thought we did a much better job as the game went on. About just getting back to like, hey, let’s go work on this game and let’s go fight to earn each other great shots. There’s a big difference. I thought we were better as the game went on. That’s a huge part of what we do. Jaxson has been playing for me this way for a long time and he’s pretty comfortable.

Jaxson’s not shy either. Is he? He’s not shy at all.

Q You talked about in the first half how you struggled to shoot and you started of 2 for 13 from beyond the arc. When it’s tough to get your shots to fall and to find your open shots. What’s your message to your team to keep shooting the ball, especially beyond the arc?

MARK POPE: It can vary. You know, the messaging was guys, these are not the shots that we take. Again. It’s very nuanced conversation. You know, we are going to go 2 for 13 in the first nine minutes sometimes from the three-point line. when it is shots that we are earning and we’re going to keep shooting. It’s a beautiful way to play and what BBN is going to learn is like, okay, they are going to say it’s really hard right now but it’s coming. Like, it’s coming. And there will be suddenly be a barrage of – mayhem and chaos and chaos in the gym and we just know it’s coming. Like we train that way. We study that way. We work that way. There’s two things we talk about. One is the way we earn those shots. And the second thing is probably, you know a place where I was really disappointed was our offensive rebounding work. Our commitment to the offensive glass. I think that was a residual – that’s an energy thing. When the game gets a little weird, like our rotation got weird. Amari’s deal got weird, it felt a little weird. Our thrust was so intense that our transition out of the thrust was weird. We just didn’t perform the way we expected to perform on the offensive glass. I think we finished with 6 offensive rebounds, which that’s not us at all. We missed 24 threes and we only came up with six offensive rebounds. Ttis is not how we play. So, we got a little weird there, but that’s what we focus on. is earning for each other with a great pace and then, really really being effective on the offensive glass.

Q Mark. In your opening statement, you mentioned that there were some numbers in the game that you were purely excited about. I was hoping that you could maybe just elaborate on what a few of those are.

MARK POPE: It’s a possessions game and it’s very important to us that we have more possessions. You think about our guys. Otega Oweh. He’s ever done this before. I’m pretty sure he was 6 0 tonight. Tats incredible, right? And Kerr Kriisa. First time under the lights was a 6 0 tonight. Lamont Butler, you know, came off 0 9 and was 5 1 tonight. Those numbers are great. Andrew Carr was a 3 0 which is absolutely terrific. We were excited about. Collin Chandler elite level playing off two feet of a 3 0. And he was unbelievable getting downhill and playing off two feet. For a rookie to be a 3 0 guy. In a game that felt weird. There wasn’t a lot of rhythm in this game. So there’s a lot of weirdness.

And for us to be 28 and 8 in this game under 10 turnovers is super exciting to me. And nearing 30 assists is really important for us. I’m really ecstatic about those numbers. We held them to 39% from the field although we tried to get them to 40% in the second half but we held them to 39% and that’s our goal. We want to keep teams at 39% from the field. So we did that effectively. I’m really proud of that. There’s a lot of really good stuff tonight.

Q Mark. When you say the karma of this game matters. Can you expand on that and what exactly do you mean by that?

MARK POPE: You guys have all been around the system. BBN knows this game. We know this game. We know what it’s feels like when there’s penetration and then you come to two feet and there is a kick and extra pass and extra pass and you follow the ball and you know where it’s going to end up. You know it’s going to end up in the corner because everybody made the right play. You know that ball is going in. And it goes in at some ridiculous, insane percentage of the time. And that’s the karma of the game. That’s one example the karma of the game. When you play this game, right? The game rewards you. It just is. It’s a living breathing thing and it’s really special. It’s partly because our guys know it. You can feel it when you’re playing amd on the floor and the ball is going right. The rare occasion you end up missing that shot, if you’re playing right, you end up getting the offensive rebound. That’s just the way this game is for the most part. I can give you 100 examples of karma, how it works, but when you play it right it honors you.

Q Coach. You mentioned how Otega impressed you this game. His performance over the last two games have been overlooked due to just some crazy performances from other guys. How much has he meant to this team and you talk about the assist numbers. I think he was one of the highest in the assist. What does he do for this team as a leader?

MARK POPE: Listen. He’s got a calmness about him that’s really great and physicality of the game is really special and he could hurt you in a lot of different ways. He’s just got a consistency. What’s really been brilliant is watching him grow. His game is growing every single day. He’s doing things more consistently than he’s ever done before in his life and that’s really exciting. He’s making a contribution in every possible way.

Q Mark. You mentioned down in Birmingham you want to see in these two games you guys get exposed a little bit. Was those first 12.5 minutes kinda what you were looking for and what did you make of the response with the 21 3 run in the half?

MARK POPE: Yeah. It was really important for me. We were hoping we just needed to not feel right. But we just needed to be there where we didn’t feel quite right. The guys needed to understand how we lean into fixing it but not only did they do a decent job in the course of the last six minutes of the first half were incredibly solid for our guys, six or seven minutes. They did it by leaning into us.

Right? Leaning into what we do. We never really built a happy home there tonight. But at least we kinda fought to get back to that and leaning to us is like 100 different things. I was proud of that. That is something that we will be able to talk about and get back to and talk about the poor shooting and how that ended up and how the guys attacked and be a learning experience for us and that’s what we need because we are going to have so many times in the season where – you know, we are very much an energy team and very closely monitoring the energy of this game. And so it was important for us to get a little weird. Game one was just so easy. Everything went right the whole night long and just for us to come to the sideline and feel a little bit of frustration was really important and so that will bode well for us moving forward. It’s a terrific team. Also, super special, this is really important guys. So, these beautiful shoes. These are incredible. Right? These are our special edition courtesy of Mark Evans. I told you he was the best in Nike, the greatest shoe ever made. Nike. And these Book Ones might actually take over. This is some type of combination of – like Apple and Nike and everything good in the world. Right? Also, they have our record 34 and 2 in 1996, conveniently book one is chapter 1 which is very relevant to us. Super cool, even the sole has got the old logo – it’s fire. Am I going to get in trouble for saying that? It’s also a very large shoe. I would hand it out but none of you could wear it.

Most importantly, Devon Brooker is a superstar. If you think about Devon Booker came here and played on one of the all-time great teams of Kentucky. Never started a game. Play 20 minutes a game. On a great team that ran the table except one game and he was going to be the MVP in the NBA here this year or next year or the year after. It’s incredible. He’s a great ambassador of this game and certainly a great ambassador for Kentucky. I thought that was pretty Swagy – I thought I would show you that. It felt good. Have a great night guys.

KENTUCKY MEN’S BASKETBALL POSTGAME QUOTES
KENTUCKY VS. MINNESOTA STATE
RUPP ARENA | LEXINGTON, KY.
OCTOBER 29, 2024

UK Student-Athletes

#2, Jaxson Robinson, G

On how he felt playing in Rupp tonight …

“It was cool just getting out there with my guys. This is our second exhibition, so we’re just ready to get the season started, get rolling. It was a good win. There were a lot of areas we can improve on. So, just get back in the lab and work on it.”

On his three-point shots seeming so effortless …

“They’re all shots that I take in practice. I work on them every day. My teammates got confidence in me, my coaches, so just shooting the shots I normally will take.”

On if the feel of the offense with Amari Williams out …

“You know, it was a little different for us. We’ve never really had to experiment with Ansley (Almonor) in at the five, so that was a little different. But I mean, I’m proud of the guys for just sticking with it and figuring out a way because they got a little rough there for a little bit. So, I mean, eventually we figured it out.”

On all the threes he took …

“I can’t credit my teammates enough. They got me open and found shots for me, so it was just good to go out there and hit some open shots.”

#10 Brandon Garrison, C

On playing more minutes tonight than expected …

“Always staying ready. Coach preaches that to us, ‘next guy up,’ if a man goes down you got to be there for your teammates.”

On how having a former big man as a coach helps him …

“I mean, it’s a lot. That’s one of the main reasons why I’m here. Just in practice, he’s helping me and Amari (Williams) with every small thing. One thing is keeping the ball high so the little guards can’t get it, and stuff like that.”

On his progression of passing out of the post …

“Like you said, learning from a vet like Amari. He’s teaching me every little thing he knows, you know, he’s been playing for a couple years longer than me. So, just learning from him and Coach Pope.”

#7 Andrew Carr, F

On Jaxson’s leadership role …

“Yeah, I think Jaxson is a great teammate and a great leader and, like you touched on, he’s the only one that’s played for Coach Pope before. We do a great job of building our teammates up and it instills a lot of confidence in me.”

On what Jaxson Robinson brings to team …

“I think he’s super dangerous, we’ve done a really good job of getting the ball out in transition for some transition threes for him. If he gets going, he’s a killer, man. He definitely got it going for us in the first half and we went on a run to pull away. He works super hard and he’s a great teammate.”

On how the game has evolved …

I love basketball, I study basketball. I’ve watched basketball throughout the years. My dad played basketball and he taught me how to play. And he told me, ‘Practice that 15-footer on the baseline. This is my shot.’ And all that has slowly phased out of the game nowadays. So, it definitely has evolved, and the only way to continue to get better is to grow with it.”

KENTUCKY BASKETBALL POSTGAME QUOTES
KENTUCKY VS. MINNESOTA STATE
RUPP ARENA – LEXINGTON, KY.
OCTOBER 29, 2024

Minnesota State Head Coach Matt Margenthaler

Opening statement … 

“First of all, I would like to thank Coach (Mark) Pope and staff and everybody here at Rupp Arena– we’ve been treated like royalty. I mean, this has been an unbelievable place and it’s one thing coming to Kentucky and having the opportunity to play here with our Division II program and these young men get the opportunity, it’s another thing the way we were treated and I can’t say enough about the people here. This university has just made it so special for us– we really appreciate that. I thought our kids competed tonight. We’re going against a really really good, old Kentucky basketball team, and I love the way Mark makes his guys play and that’s the way we want to play. I just told the guys in the locker room, they’re really shooting the ball, they have shooters– that’s how we recruit. We were watching Kentucky; we have a lot of the same things that Kentucky does – we don’t have the same players though. But, they did a really good job. I just think we can learn a lot from this and we got better this week. We got better from Saturday when we had a Division I scrimmage in Minneapolis to today. And, we were garbage on Saturday and I thought today we competed and did some things that we needed to do, and I can admit that won our first national championship this past year and then in plain sight, and in view of, if we don’t win another championship this year then it’s a failure of the season– which is totally wrong. I mean, I want our guys to have fun and just compete and if they do that, then good things will happen and I think we’re on our way to getting that done.”

On how he prepared for Kentucky’s offense where anyone can shoot threes … 

“Very difficult. And honestly, we didn’t talk a lot about Kentucky, we talked about ourselves. Going into the year, I said we were so bad last scrimmage that we needed to better ourselves and to walk out of the locker room feeling like we did something positive– and I thought we did. Obviously, we’re not a good shooting team like Kentucky. I thought our guys settled in. Kind of like our championship game last year, we’ll settle in a little bit, and I thought we did, and the last four minutes of the first half killed us and the first four minutes of the second half killed us, and you know, they’re going to go on runs and they scored in bunches, and we knew that, but then again, I love the way they played.”

On what the rest of the season will look like …

“I think this whole road trip is big for us. We’re on the road for eight days, so we have four games on the road. We’re heading to Lakeland after Kentucky for the Small College Basketball Tournament against Florida Southern Saturday night. They’re ranked nineteenth in the nation, we just got ranked number one in the nation today. So, we need an identity. We just haven’t had an identity. This is just pre-season, and even last week, that’s what we talked about. Being on the road by ourselves, we need that. We need to get connectivity of our guys, and I think we showed a little more of that tonight and we’re going to hopefully build on that tomorrow and practice going into Thursday then playing Saturday and Sunday.”

On preparing to play a team with little film …

“I think what shows is that, I talked to my guys, we took too many tough twos and we don’t want to take tough twos. Kentucky and Mark’s got his guys believing in that three-point-shot. There’s a tie where they made 36 or something like that, I don’t even know. But, they just continued to bottle, and bottle, and bottle them and that’s just- you’re going to continue, you’re going to make them. So, we’ve got to get away from making too many, we took too many bad twos but I’d rather take all those threes. Percentages were there for it, you know, and I’m not a real smart guy, I went to Western Illinois, and I mean, it sure is not hard for the Midwest, I’ll tell you that. But, that’s smart basketball.”

Minnesota State Student-Athlete

#11, Caden Kirkman, F

On how it felt to play at Kentucky and what they can take away from this game …

“Man, it was super nerve wracking at first, I mean, we got on the floor and there are thousands of people (in Rupp Areana), which we are not used to at all. So, to get into that environment and to get those jitters out, it is good we got that out early. We play Florida Southern (next up) and that will be like a home game for them, so it will be good to have already gotten those jitters out.”