Kentucky-LSU Postgame Quotes
UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY MEN’S BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE
March 4, 2025
Lexington, Kentucky, USA
Coach Mark Pope
Press Conference
Kentucky 95, LSU 64
MARK POPE: This LSU team has fought hard all season. They got a bunch of young talent that’s going to be really good. I was really proud of our guys and how they responded tonight after a tough game on Saturday. Just their focus, I thought was pretty good. I thought it was elite, especially on the defensive end. I thought guys were really connected and took it personal and that’s what we are looking to do as we move forward. Hit it, questions.
Q Mark, when you recruited these guys, it was kind of like speed dating. I’m curious as a coach, how do you cram in four years of relationship into just one year that you have them?
MARK POPE: I have Lee Anne, Lee Anne actually can do that, and she’s unbelievable at that. If you ask them, they would be like, I’m sad we are not going to be with Coach Pope and we are really sad we are not going to see Miss Lee Anne. Really, it’s these guys doing it with each other. That’s what’s so special about this group. These seniors became so close. It was really fun. We had a dinner last night that was so fantastic. It was really special with just the seniors, not seniors but the extinguished eligibility guys and their families. To hear those guys talk about, it was fun to recount their experience recruiting. Which all of them had interesting stories from their point of view to share with each other. And then just to hear them, all six of them stood up and kind of like took the mic and told stories last night for quite a long time and it was really wonderful. I learned a lot of things were going on behind the scenes that I’m not allowed to talk about. But really beautiful things. That’s what special. They built relationships with each other. And to watch them just in that setting where the only focus was just taking them in, was actually really fun last night. Special guys.
Q Coach, two questions here about the BBN. Tonight, How was it for you, even though you weren’t here to watch BBN embrace Damien Collins after all he went through while he was here. How effective were they for you guys in Rupp Arena this year as you finish 15 and 3 in the conference?
MARK POPE: Well, listen, BBN is incredible. And I think, you know, it was a special night. A name that most people don’t know is Zach Tal. Zach Tal actually came to walk on tryouts and we randomly held walk on tryouts and he showed up and he fought through 60 guys in a bunch of workouts and then earned the right to come to practice and be on a one day contract throughout the entire course of the season. He came and battled every single day, never said a word, never missed a rep, never missed a practice, never was an issue, never asked for anything. Just came and fought every single day. One of the highlights of the night was, you know, I had some of the guys come to me, in fact, Lamont Butler came to me about a month ago and said I think Zach deserves a jersey, he had not got a jersey all year, he was on a one day contract. In our pregame speech, Lamont had the pregame speech before the game today and he presented Zach with a jersey. The guys lost their mind. Zach was in stunned wonderment. And that is like, I’m telling that story is a long way around your question about, if you spend one day in this jersey and BBN embraces you for life. and that’s really cool. It’s like nowhere else. This basketball community of BBN is like nothing else. It was fun to hear our guys talk about our seniors, our extinguished eligibility guys talk about it because they got a huge dose of it in just a short time.
Q Mark, how did the guys internalized the news of Jaxson Robinsons injury and needing surgery. Sometimes you can be in the back of your mind, we are going to get so-and-so back and that kind of thing. Now just knowing moving forward that this locker room, this rotation, this is who we have?
MARK POPE: We had a really trying, just all of the emotions you could imagine post-Oklahoma. It was a late game central time. We finished the game and then, you know, get back at 3 o’clock or 4 o’clock in the morning. And are dealing with the emotion of that game. The emotion of Jax’s news which we all didn’t really get to get final answers on until the next day. But all suspected. And then run right into Auburn in an early game. That was a super tumultuous time and there was just so much. And then we ran right into tonight. I think, the guys are devastated for him and really sad for us because he is such a massive part of this team. At the same time resolved that, we know what we have today and we are going to try to find a way to win with what we have today. Jax, these guys love Jax so much and Jax loves these guys so much and they’ve been on epic journey together and it’s hard to make sense of why he doesn’t get a chance to finish this with these guys. It’s really brutal.
Q Obviously, Otega had another great game all around. I want to specifically ask about one play. We are sitting way up there where the media is. The pass that he made to Lamont, to cap that 15 and 0 run. How much was it from your advantage point because you are down on the floor and you got a pretty good sight of it?
MARK POPE: It was very much, you know, I love basketball players that grew up playing soccer. Because they kinda see angles and that can make plays like that is what you do in that game. I don’t know anything about soccer but the little thing I do know is that. It was a really incredible play. I thought he was elite starting the game on the defensive end. That’s what we really cared about. We need him to start gains being great defensively. And he was, Lamont was. But, O made a bunch of plays today, he made some really simple plays that look brilliant, right? I thought he was terrific, his focus was great.
Q Coach, you talked about coming out with vengeance after the Auburn game. Can you talk about what was different tonight and how important to leave Rupp with a win as you play your last game here?
MARK POPE: Just us getting better. It’s funny how the gravity of the season gets to you, right? We’ve been patch-working so much that we’ve lost a couple of things over the last six weeks. We lost this desperate hunger to get better, because we were just trying to stay afloat, right? By staying afloat in some ways, I think we did get better but there were so many distractions going on. You know we kind of lost the pace of the game because we are just trying to stay afloat. We are trying to get just enough live bodies to function. You think about Otega’s pass. Tonight there was a lot of pace against a really good transition defensive team. LSU had been a really solid transition defense team and they only gave up 50% of their possessions in transitions. Those two things, I think were on the uptick. I think we kinda have a vibe for the first time. It feels like we are going to have the same guys out on the floor tomorrow, on Saturday as we did tonight, as we did on last Saturday, which we haven’t had that in almost two months. And so we are really excited about that and we are really excited about getting back focused in this late stretch to continue getting better and to continue bringing pace to the game is really important to us.
Q: Mark, Collin Chandler had a good game tonight, he had 11 points, 4 on rebounds and 4 assists. What did you see from him tonight and how big is someone like him stepping up be for you guys later on?
MARK POPE: It’s really important. Collin, and Trent, and Travis Perry in some ways are just incredibly important to our stretch run here. Those guys are ready, they are capable, and those three guys have got to step up and make huge plays for us like veteran experience players, and they can. But those guys are really crucial. The success that we have is going to be in some part dependent on them being great and they are ready to do it.
Q Mark, you guys are big on the numbers and analytics. You’ve had so many people in and out of the lineup all year. Has that messed with your numbers? Do you have enough data to make decisions like you normally would?
MARK POPE: We have a lot of data but it’s a lot of weird data, right? There’s not, you know, there is so many kind of anomalous parts to it. We do, we learned about our guys. Even tonight, you know, there were a couple of, you know, you get yourself into a situation where it’s either fatigue or fouls or match-ups that end you up with a lineup that’s like, oh, I don’t actually love the lineup right now. And it’s all happening in real time. We don’t have a ton of lineup flexibility for us right now to put a really good group on the floor. We have a bunch of guys, all of our guys can go be great on the floor, but they have to be with the right other group, some of our guys, to be really effective and functional. You take that as one example of, man, we are still trying to figure it out. But, we have had three straight games, on Saturday we will have our third straight game where we get to explore this group of pieces. And we will figure it out.
Q Mark, Ansley was really big for you in the middle of the season. It seemed like he was able to get some of that confidence back, maybe tonight?
MARK POPE: I thought he was terrific. Ansley, my goodness, what a season he’s had. For a guy never in his wildest dreams thought he would be wearing a Kentucky jersey. You think about the huge impactful moments that he’s had in games for us and he’s going to be big down the stretch. You see it all the time. He had three or four really quite subpar games for his standard that he set. And you know, sometimes all of the weight of this thing starts to get on your shoulders and he did a great tonight just casting out, like, I’m going to be a baller man, make minutes and I’m gonna go play. I thought his energy and intensity was great tonight. I thought he was really special. He’s been great all season. Thanks guys, I appreciate you.
KENTUCKY VS LSU
MARCH 4, 2025
RUPP ARENA-LEXINGTON, KY
Kentucky Student Athletes
#10, Brandon Garrison, F
On closing out the home season on a win…
“It felt amazing. I think it felt more amazing for the six seniors to leave Rupp with a win.”
On playing the complete opposite from their game against Auburn…
“Everybody knows that the Auburn game did not know how we wanted it to go, but we’ve been in practice just working on it. We forgot about that game and moved on to LSU. We picked up on what we messed up on in the Auburn game, and it showed.”
On the defensive difference …
“Being at the point of the screen, not letting their shooters get so many three [point shots]. I feel like Amari [Williams] and I took a big step on that and just took pride in guarding their men.
#5, Collin Chandler, G
On making the most of minutes …
“I think we’re still experimenting with different lineups and different strategies going at teams. I’m excited and ready to go, whatever coach needs, whatever he’s wanting to try and wanting to go. And I think it’s been fun doing different positions and learning that way. There’s been a lot of learning experiences in that. It’s fun and unpredictable, but we’re getting better.”
On now being successful on offense …
“I have just been wanting to help the team in any way I can, and that was defensively. I needed to get better, so that was a focus for me— getting better defensively. Coming in and being solid and reliable as a defender, but it can’t just be that way. I need to continue to grow offensively and be a threat out there too, because if I’m not a threat out there, it affects my teammates as well on offense. So, I’ve been focusing on offense as well and getting myself.”
Legacy the seniors are leaving….
“What I do know is that these seniors have been amazing at teaching us young guys all the things that they’ve learned through their experience. We have so much experience through all of our guys, and they’ve been very graceful at being patient with us and helping us to learn those things. So, we’ll miss that big time, but hopefully we’ll be able to continue to learn and pass some things on from them to the next guys. Hopefully their DNA as players will continue to run through this team. They’ll leave a lot of DNA with the guys that will be here next year. So, I think it would be with us for a long time in this program.
#00, Otega Oweh, G
On the 15-0 run …
“I think we were just all clicking. Even if we’re not clicking, we’re still going to find ways to score and put points on the board. It all starts with defense first, that sparks the offense.”
On playing with the senior class …
“It’s sad. It’s crazy how fast the season has gone. It’s true what they say, time flies when you’re having fun. Everything they have taught me, this older group, that’s a really great bond that we will have forever.”
On playing without Jaxson Robinson …
“It’s unfortunate with Jax because he played such a big role on this team and what he brings is crazy. I feel like we’ve just got focus on what we’re doing on the court. Jax is going to support us as much as he can. If we’re out there playing and worried about Jax, our attention is not where it needs to be. Once we get on the court, all of that goes out the window, you just have to focus.”
KENTUCKY BASKETBALL POSTGAME QUOTES
KENTUCKY VS. LSU
RUPP ARENA – LEXINGTON, KY.
MARCH 4, 2025
LSU Head Coach Matt Mchahan
Opening Statement
“As diasppointed as I am and the way we played espesically during the first half, I want to give tredmeous credit to Kentucky. I thought they had just a fantastic performance on their senior night here tonight. Its really hard to simulate their pace of play and in transition they were fantastic. They’re pushing the basketball, getting easy threes in the opening floor. Thought they really shared the basketball well. 22 assists and just eight turnovers and, then in the first half, I thought some poor shots on our end led to some easy baskets for Kentucky, and they just took off and left us there. So credit to them for a strong performance here tonight.”
On Daimion Collins being welcomed by BBN…
“Not surprised, always a classy crowd here. Everyone you talk to who ran into Daimion throughout his two years here speaks very highly of him. I’ve really enjoyed having the opportunity to coach him. I’m really proud of the progress and development he’s made both on and off the court. And thought that was, once again, a real classy move by the Kentucky fans to give him a big ovation when he was announced in the starting lineup.”
On what they did well in the second half…
“I thought we got better shots in the second half, shot a better percentage. Defensively, we still had very few answers for them but I thought just the shot making seemed like the open looks we had in the first half, we missed and we missed badly. It led to those transition opporutnities that Kentucky made us pay everytime. And I really thought [Otega Oweh] was phenomenal tonight. I thought he really set the tone tonight for the game on both ends on the floor. His physicality defensively but then he was so efficient on the offensive end tonight and I thought it really dominated the game from the wining position.”
