Kentucky-Alabama Postgame Quotes
UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY MEN’S BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE
January 18, 2025
Lexington, Kentucky, USA
Coach Mark Pope
Press Conference
Kentucky 97, Alabama 102
MARK POPE: Congratulations to Alabama. It’s a great program, great team. Played really hard coming off a tough loss. They responded really well on the road. I’m proud of our guys. We fought, didn’t execute as well as we would like to. And losing is the worst.
Q Mark, how close was Lamont to not playing? I saw the trainer put that sling on his shoulder after the time out.
MARK POPE: We didn’t know. He hasn’t done any contact. At breakfast this morning, I saw him lift his arm a little bit. I don’t know, maybe he could go. I thought he gave a really heroic effort and played well and we need to get him as healthy as quick as we can.
Q Mark, you guys tie the game at 81 with about five minutes to play over here and then they go on a 9 and 0 run. What did you see from your team during that stretch?
MARK POPE: I felt like we were battling a lot of fatigue out there and I felt like we were battling some frustration. I felt like we were kind of patch working lineups a little bit. We were really struggling to guard legal. It was just all of those things come together. It was a game of runs and there were so many big runs and mini runs and I think our guys were trying to stick, I felt like we were trying to really hang in this game.
Q Mark, you guys got a lot of threes up late towards the end of the game but it seemed like maybe the volume wasn’t quite there where you want it to throughout most of the game. What did they do to kind of limit those?
MARK POPE: They are pretty disciplined. Exactly the opposite of the last two teams we played is they’ll fan out to the three and really try and make it a two on two ball screen game and a one on one game at the rim. We were not as good as we wanted to be about punishing with cutters off of two feet after the two feet and we ended up standing, like I said a little bit of that was patchwork lineup and a little bit of that was fatigue. A little bit of that was just as such a different style of play then we faced the last couple of games and a little bit is this place we need to get way better at and understand more. You are just right for opportunities. We call them Bellarmine cuts. Burn cuts, back cuts Bellarmine cuts. We were a little static. We were kind of a one-side one cut team today when Alabama is going to force you to cut early in the possession and then really where you punish them is late cuts. We just didn’t feel it and see it and couldn’t quite manufacture it and get to it.
Q Coach, they’ve added this bye week per se in the SEC schedule. As tough and physical as this is and you guys kind of being beat up. How important is this getting this midweek bye for you guys?
MARK POPE: We have to take advantage of it and everybody’s got one. Ours is probably coming at the best time for us in terms of finding a pathway to a little better health for our guys. I didn’t think that was the determining factor of the game tonight. To be fresh and for our guys to get fresh and to get healthy is going to be probably key number one and we would also like to make some big strides of improvement.
Q Mark, back here. We talked a lot about you guys playing well in these top 15 games. You guys have been ready for the big games. It seemed like you guys were ready for the game tonight. Just a couple of shots didn’t fall, not enough. Are you still comfortable with the way you guys played tonight and moving forward in these big games?
MARK POPE: We can be so much better. I think that’s the biggest thing. Listen, Alabama is a terrific team. They are a great team and it’s not taking anything away from Alabama when I say that. We left so much on the table. There is so much room for us to grow. There is so many spaces where we can get better. In particular, playing this style of game. That’s going to be the nature of the season. You know, we played our first five games in the league are against all teams in the top 25 right now. It’s the nature of this league right now. The most important thing for us is we can’t waste any energy or any time on nonconstructive things. It’s a race to see how fast we can get better, and that’s not easy. I will be a much better postgame guy four hours from now. But that’s kind of the speed we have to go with this.
Q Mark, I guess kind of a two-part question on the same topic. One, how do you grade how you guys did defensively tonight and two, where do you kind of view it through with these first five SEC games?
MARK POPE: We had some issues. The first five minutes transition was an issue. The rest of the game, the offensive glass was an issue. We gave up 15 offensive rebounds and that’s really really tough. We let them shoot 39% from the three point line. That’s really tough. We sent them to the free-throw line 40 times. When you do those things it makes him a really tough package to get a win, right? That’s like the trifecta right now and the answers are those three things. We have to continue our work on the glass. It was interesting because the glass hurt us two different ways. One, it hurt us to getting bullied at the rim and two, it hurt us on long shot, long rebound scrambles where I felt like we were a little bit, you know, I’m probably cherry picking fully biased recall right now. But man, it felt like we were a little bit late to balls. I don’t think we won the 50-50 ballgame. I don’t have a stat on that yet. We will stat that out. That’s a really important part of who we are. Those three things lead to you giving up 102 points at home, right? Those are areas where if we are going to play well and if we are going to win in really really really high-level games. We have to be better in those areas. We can’t bail teams out with fouls. We gotta handle teams in transition and we gotta keep them off the glass. We clearly have to guard the three-point line a little better. Those are things we’ve done. There’s things we are making progress at. Today was a significant misstep for us for sure.
Q Mark, Grant Nelson had a really strong offensive game for Alabama today. 25 points, 19 in the first half, and he kind of lived at the foul line for a lot of the game as well. What were some of the unique aspects of trying to defend him and what were some of the challenges that he obviously posed to you guys tonight?
MARK POPE: He came down and knocked down two threes to start the game. It has not been his game this year and a credit to him. And then it was all head down to the rim. It was a complicated matchup for us at times tonight. We had some moments that were much more productive. But for us to send him to the free-throw line 10 times is really tough. That’s not the space that he traditionally lives in. And credit to him, he was really, really stubborn about getting to the rim. We had a tough time catching the move legally and we had a tough time bringing gap help and those are things that we needed to do that was really important for us of having a chance to win tonight.
Q Mark, how do you think from Alabama’s perspective. They saw the game offensively maybe attacking the guys they wanted to attack when they were on offense?
MARK POPE: They were pretty diligent. They went with the guys you would have expected and they adjusted as the game went on and I thought they were pretty smart about how they went about it.
Q Mark, in the second half you mentioned the lack of cutting and maybe some frustration growing. Did you see some one on one play starting creeping back with your guys a little bit or is that just what the game dictated?
MARK POPE: I didn’t feel that, I didn’t feel that at all. We are 20 and 8 and that’s just us. I’d like to be a 30 and 8 and it was a team where we’re over a 2 to 1 and that’s how we function. If you look at the numbers. Lamont Butler is at 8, 1 and Brandon Garrison is a 5, 0 and Otega is a 3, 0 and made some brilliant plays off two feet. I actually felt like it was, I felt like it was earning the assist by the other guys that was more of a problem. I didn’t think it was selfish play at all. I felt like it was exactly the opposite. I felt like we needed to be a little hungry. What happens is the way Alabama guards is they are going to switch or if you get a ball screen or get a downhill action, they will switch or switch the ball screen or they will down and weaken it and kind of sprint to recover and feed back. What you do is get all the way to the rim with two feet. A lot of time it’s a mismatch and a lot of time its a point guard against a five at the rim offensively and defensively and they are really diligent about, you know they can play the roll game which we could have played better and we could have gotten more out of the roll game and it’s hard to get our guys to roll. In the game now, not a comment on the referee or anything else. It’s just our game now, When you switch the guard switch out on the big puts two arms around the big and holds him. That’s universal in the game right now. It’s just the way the whistle is. There is no commentary on that. You have to roll hard to punish that and earn yourself a foul. That’s step one. We did it a little bit later, a little bit better late than we did early. And then two, you get down there to two feet and now as guys are fanning out with such a beautiful opportunity to cut, to blind cut and Bellarmine cuts that cut over the top when people get to two feet. It was at that point where our guys got stagnant. It wasn’t a matter of guys being selfish going one-on-one. It was guys actually not earning plays for themselves enough. That’s how you attack a defense like they showed. We just didn’t do it well enough consistently enough. Listen, our guys fought and they battled. We just didn’t play that well. We still scored 97 points, we just didn’t play great, right? When I say there is stuff left on the table. There is that whole section of the game that’s left on the table that it hurts us so badly right now that we got to live with this. But the one thing our guys are good at is they are good at getting better and we will punish teams in the future that guard us like this even more than we did tonight. We just are not that far along. Every game gives you a new challenge and we just couldn’t execute that space in the game. I’ve got beautiful guys, my guys are fighting for each other. I know you are not trying to push that narrative. There is zero part of my guys that are in this for themselves at all. That doesn’t exist at all. These guys are fighting for each other. I appreciate you guys, thanks for being here.
KENTUCKY MEN’S BASKETBALL POSTGAME QUOTES
KENTUCKY VS. ALABAMA
RUPP ARENA – LEXINGTON, KY.
JANUARY 18, 2025
UK STUDENT-ATHLETES
#10 BRANDON GARRISON
On the loss …
“The fouls we kept giving up sending them to the free throw line. They’re a very good free throw shooting team so I feel like that hurt us tonight.”
On adjusting to Alabama’s different play style…
“I wouldn’t say it was a hard adjustment, like I said before, it was little fouls, and we just kept giving them easy buckets. I don’t think it was just the offense that hurt us.”
On getting a week off …
“It’s going to help us a lot. We’ve got a couple guys down, Andrew and Lamont battling, just a couple guys. So, I feel like this week, get those guys back rising and go down there and get another road win.”
#15 ANSLEY ALMONOR
On the loss …
“I felt like towards the end we didn’t execute our defense well and that’s what ended up hurting us. We played our game for the part but then it was just going back and forth and that made us lose focus.”
On the challenge of playing Alabama…
“It was definitely a transition and a challenge. Alabama plays very fast. It’s hard to simulate a practice and until you really go out there you don’t realize how fast they really are and that’s definitely a challenge for us. We are going to watch film and get better from it and use what we learn when we play again.”
On the defensive matchup…
“I was actually pretty amazed by the passes they were making. I don’t know if they practiced that or that’s just natural. It was crazy to see, it was tough to play against them, they have really great players over there.”
#00 OTEGA OWEH
On how are you preparing for your next game after this loss…
“There was a lot of fouling, so we are going to work on that. Also, you know not forgetting this game. Obviously, there are things to work on, so we just have to bounce back and get better on the things we didn’t do so well today which was our physicality and rebounding”.
On from a players perspective what do you think led to your loss tonight…
“In terms of rebounding I think we did a good job on that and limiting transition passes but we gave up a lot of big six points. We started off doing a great job with boxing them out, but you have to keep that going for 40 minutes”.
On how difficult is it to stay in the rhythm of a defensive position…
“We prepared for it so we knew it was going to be difficult. We just had to stay solid and not break. Coach preached that a lot. Trying to have perfect possession versus possession with a rebound. That’s something we have to do better on”.
ALABAMA HEAD COACH NATE OATS
Opening Statement…
“Couldn’t be more proud of a group of guys. It was definitely a bounce-back from the game on Tuesday and quite a win today. It was a really good team that we beat and I think we did a really good job. We were looking at some of the better shooters, Berea had an average of 6 attempts, I thought we did a really good job getting him off. Grant Nelson came out ready to go and get half of our points in the first twenty. We were able to help him bounce off of the game on Tuesday night against Ole Miss and give him some confidence—credits to him. Sears also made a ton of plays, like he always does, he gets to the free throw line and makes big free throws and big points. For him to play almost 38 minutes I thought his defense was pretty good, he showed a lot of effort. Labaron struggled and was shooting maybe 26 percent coming into playing this game, he has been in the gym. I was telling the guys on Tuesday, that we didn’t deserve to win that game because of our effort before the game and going into the game and that’s exactly what happened. We started with guys dedicating themselves and putting more effort in when it comes to reps and getting stronger. So with that being said, Labaron spent a lot of the time in the gym getting reps and I feel that it really showed today. It’s not rocket science, you spend time in the gym and you make your shots. Spend time in the gym, you make free throws. So, Dioubate got somehow less than 15 minutes, plus 21, eight points, and eight rebounds in less than 15 minutes is pretty impressive. Youngblood had a little bit of a coming-out party end of the second half, finally starting to look like how we thought he was going to look. It isn’t easy having surgery over the summer and sitting out for almost six months, trying to come back and you are not 100 percent but he looked pretty good. Great playing here at Rupp, the crowd is great, I love the environment, and I like the basketball people here. Coach Pope has done a really good job rejuvenating everybody. This is the first home loss and they’ve been playing great at home. They are a wonderful team and have so much to look forward to for their season. Our loss on Tuesday wasn’t great and didn’t feel great but sometimes you need a loss to learn some lessons. If you study Coach Saban and his playing history, his teams would take a loss early on and build from there throughout the year. They would focus and lock in on their mistakes and what they did wrong. So I feel like that is the best path for us and we can only go up from here. This was a completely different team than the one that played Ole Miss. If we learn lessons we need to, that is the game we cannot forget. We just have to make sure this isn’t a one-game deal, we need to continue to do the things we’ve done.”
On the guard lineup…
“Yeah, I mean we got more shooting out there, especially with the way Youngblood’s shooting it. You know he’s 2-for-3, and the two threes he hit were huge. I mean Holloway’s been playing great, I feel bad for him because he did have it going there, and then he got in some foul trouble and came out and then, it was going well and I found out, oh, it’s time to get him back in so, he’s been playing great. I think he has six games in a row in double digits, hopefully we can get him going again next game, and we’ve got those four guards all starting. Derrion went 3-of-5 tonight from 3. Sears obviously everyone knows what he can do, you know, CY is coming along, Derrion, Holloway, if you can keep three of those four out there with matchups that you can put them on and just find, we knew when there were certain guys in, we can definitely keep those three guards. Offensively it’s about a line of force, to make shots, you know Jarin’s been pretty good, so I thought he was good tonight, Grant with the way he was playing, we were a little bit in foul trouble in the front court, so kind of trying to save some of Jarin’s minutes for more of a four spot than a three and playing more three-guard line ups. I think was a little help, you know we got in foul trouble in the second half, Clif with the pace that we play, Clif is not a guy, you know he played 25 minutes, it’s about what he ought to be playing, I thought he was pretty good in his 25 minutes.”
On Alabama overlooking Kentucky’s bench…
“No, Kentucky’s got a great bench, they had seven guys in double figures, six guys averaging double figures. Holloway played decent. Youngblood, Dioubate got in foul trouble in the first half. I just, some of it is guys get in foul trouble and you know what, Mark Sears has been in some of these big games before. Grant Nelson had everyone going early, he came ready to play, obviously, so, not going to sacrifice some of those guys minutes just to play guys off the bench if I think that they’re ready to go and they’re playing good, I’ll keep them in the game keep them going.”
On Pope being Kentucky’s coach…
“I thought it was a great fit. He played here, he knows what this place is about, from afar it kind of seems like one of those teams that BYU would play. I think what you’re seeing is offensive production. He’s going to be able to get players here. He’s always had a tradition to get players, you know when they hired him it made total sense, and his introductory press conference, the way they rolled him in was pretty cool. I think Mark is a great guy, so seems to me like the state’s embraced him. I mean they obviously lost today but we’re a good team, this is not going to be a bad loss for them when all is said and done. They’re a very good team. This is their first loss at home since he’s been here, he’s done an unbelievable job, a great style of basketball, I thought it made sense. I’m happy for them, we got this win and we play them twice this year, we need to make sure we give them a loss, but he’s done a great job. I think it helps the SEC to have Kentucky good, they’ve been traditionally good most years and he’s got them very good and they’re eighth in the country and they were a pretty good team today.”
