Kentucky-Purdue Postgame Quotes
UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY MEN’S BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE
October 24, 2025
Lexington, Kentucky, USA
Coach Mark Pope
Press Conference
Kentucky 78, Purdue 65
MARK POPE: Just know that was not in the media, yeah. But I like media if you want to, that’s fine. I was listening to a church sermon that was super-powerful and the speaker said, if you know, you know. He was talking about, of course, the gospel of Jesus Christ. This idea of you know, you know, which we talk about our team a little bit too. We have a long way to go, you know, we have so much work to do. In terms of one night for these guys to actually be in this for each other is going to be the key to this team. As much as we can to stay in this for each other, we have a chance to be a good team and so I’m super proud of them. Fire away with questions.
Q I will ask you as tactfully as I can. I saw Malachi a few years ago in the state final four. Several of us in here did. The impression was, wow, he’s soft, he’s big but he’s soft. When you see what you see tonight. What happened?
MARK POPE: I’m really proud of him and I got to know his family really well. His mom is incredible and his brother Michael, oriented his whole life to take care of his brother and Malachi himself has just made great changes. I talked about this this summer when I was at USA and saw him compete, I was blown away also, because I saw the same as you, I wouldn’t say soft but he was kind of a one position guy and was not rebounding out of his position and was not rim protecting out of his position. He’s just made incredible progress and that’s a real tribute to his family and himself and he’s got a chance to grow into a really special player. He’s got a lot of work to do and got so much growth ahead of him but he’s got a chance to have massive impact on this game.
Q Coach, you mentioned all preseason how important these exhibition games are even though don’t count towards anything. What’s something you learned about your team that can help use to help carry you through the rest of the tough preconference schedule?
MARK POPE: I was really proud of us in the first half offensively. We weren’t very good but when we weren’t very good we tried to solve it by being us. You know, we had seven cut assists and seven screen assists on the night. There were several stimy late possessions in the first half where we didn’t just try to, like go fix it the way that these guys have always fixed it their whole life. They fixed it our way. We had a stretch in the second half where we got away from that a little bit which is understandable right now. I was really proud of that and it’s a good sign for us.
Q Mark, where has Jasper made maybe the biggest stride over the past few weeks especially? And how do you channel all the things that he can do into one focused product, I guess, out there on the court?
MARK POPE: Jasper, I’m really proud of Jasper because he is trying so hard to learn what we do. And he hasn’t, he’s got a very unique game, he’s got a very unique skill set. And he has committed himself to trying to do what we do and then letting that part of him that he brings to the game come out through it rather than just going to what he does. And that’s why he’s growing so much so fast. You know, he’s clearly a really talented player. He’s got a huge future. He’s going to play well because he’s trying to do this the way we do it. It’s going to make him look good and certainly did tonight.
Q Coach, you had 10 players not play more than 15 minutes and your preseason all SEC guard and projected NBA first round draft pick were not on the floor tonight. How are you going to find minutes for all of these guys when everybody gets back?
MARK POPE: I actually didn’t think we played this hard as consistently as we can. I thought one of the thing was effective. This Purdue team is great. They are the number one team in the country and they are going to be unbelievable. They are on the road. None of us have even installed most of what we do yet. There’s all of those things. They didn’t shoot the ball particularly well tonight. And I’m hoping that part of it was just there was somewhat of a relentless pressure and pace to the game. And so I actually felt like we didn’t play as hard as we are going to have to play to win consistently. I kind of was looking at the bench and was like, I need fresh bodies. We will continue to work on our conditioning. It’s a matter of how hard, how much pressure can we exert on this game every single second of the game. And that will help us defensively. It will help us offensively. Because it breaks open things. Just that fatigue and unrelenting pressure. I was sitting in the office with Lee just after I met with the team looking at the box score and I was like, this feels like my 96 team in terms of point distribution. Can you do that in 25-26? Can we actually pull it off where we have guys that care so much about each other and so much about Kentucky that they are willing to do this? We are going to see. If we can do it, it’s a fun way to play, man, it’s pretty special.
Q Coach, obviously Collin Chandler only had 2 points but led the team in plus minus in 15. What does that say how he can contribute without scoring and what have you seen from him in the off-season?
MARK POPE: Yeah, he was the highlight for the whole game for me. I would give him the MVP of the game. That’s the defining feature, if this team wants to do something historic, that’s what we need. And we need to champion it and we need to take pride in it and we need to be like, yes, that was me. He was unbelievable. He played 15 minutes, he was a +15. He was +1 per minute, that’s a ridiculous ratio for anything over six or seven minutes of play. He had a ridiculously spectacular dunk. I have so much confidence in him to make the right decision on offense and so much confidence in him to be incredibly defensively sound with great energy and you have guys like that, it makes you feel good as a coach because good things are going to happen when he’s on the floor. You know, the dunk was spectacular but he had two elite level full speed cuts where he hit roll late that broke it open and our bigs finally started rolling. The whole first half, one of the things we were stuck on was we couldn’t get our bigs to roll. I think partly some fatigue and just the head spinning because of the deal. He really got us started. And then everyone else saw how that felt, the roll guys and live ball, ball handlers. You got Mo making that play and Jasper making that play and DA making that play. It was contagious. He had a massive impact on the game.
Q Mark, you mentioned in the off-season, you thought Jasper, Otega, Denzel and Collin could be the next guys up when it comes to running the point and they combine for 10 assist and only 4 turnovers for tonight, how did you feel that quartet stepped in for Jaland?
MARK POPE: I thought they were good. You know, this Purdue is a unique team. We are going to see very different challenges from other teams. This is a very unique team. You know, their DNA is not to really put a ton of pressure on the ball. They beat you in other ways. I thought our guys, for the most part handled it well. I thought our bigs had a chance to grow in that sense. You know, BG had a couple elite level reads where he was getting to the second and third cutter that were elite level plays, you know, he got carried away a couple of times. Malachi had a really important play for him as they were really trying to press and get out of the wings and we were encouraging our bigs to go attack the no gap pressure, and he did, and I was really proud of him because he got all the way down and was bullied all the way down to the rim and finished with a nice left-hand finish. I think Mo igniting the break was really solid a couple of times. I thought Jela, even though he’s not allowed to dribble, he actually ignited the break a couple of times and was really effective making the simple play.
Q Mark, you know, obviously Malachi’s big dunk came after a pretty poor 3-point attempt. Jasper got a good steal in the first half after giving up a turnover. For you guys to accomplish what you are wanting to accomplish this year, how important is it for your young guys, your freshman, are you able to respond to that adversity?
MARK POPE: We must have said next play 10 times in the huddle before we walked out on the floor to start the game. It’s just really important. When you are trying to, like this idea of coming wave after wave after wave and keeping the pressure on, there’s going to be mistakes in the game. And it’s just, we just, if we do this right, the way this team is built to try to compete, kind of using whatever strength is, and we have to move on to the next play. And I thought those guys did that brilliantly. In fact, I thought a bunch of guys did. Kam shot a 25 foot shot, 24 feet, 32 feet, and then came back and banged an impossible shot, moving onto the next one. We had a bunch of plays like that where guys just moved on to the next play pretty well. That’s going to be important for us all year long. We are going to have to get better and better at it.
Q I’ve got two questions for you. What do you think guards stepping up with Jaland Lowe being, of course, missing this game, being injured? What did you also think about Mo Dioubate physicality coming from Alabama to here?
MARK POPE: I do think there’s going to be a lot of BBB that Mo Dioubate is their favorite player. I mean, he just plays with all of his guts spilling out all over the floor. He just plays hard, he just plays hard, you know he’s got a lot of fans in my own family right now that say we love this Mo Dioubate, and I do too. I thought he was great tonight.
Q Mark, right here. I know defense was an area he really wanted to focus on this summer. Matt Painter kind of talked about how there wasn’t much defense in this game. What can you take away with the lack of defense to improve on going forward?
MARK POPE: Yeah, I think, listen, I think this is to teams that have traditionally been elite level offensive teams. I think that our navigation through traffic was poor today. But that’s a credit to what Purdue does. They wait and they cut hard and they set up cuts and they screen hard and their big bodies, those three guys are big, big bodied guys and we have to get way better at navigating traffic away from the ball. It’s really, really important. I thought we did that poorly. We’ve had a tough time guarding ourselves and we had a tough time being there on the catch. You know, we were trying to open the bigs so that we could take a best route. We were pretty stubborn with it. I felt like we was cutting angles off the first initial screen, I thought we did a poor job cutting angle. You kind of need a 270 degree kind of cut to actually get under so you can be there on the other side we finally did it. Pulled up behind and it was an off rhythm shot. It was different for him. Those adjustments are things that are really important and we have to get better at. I thought our third defender was really inconsistent on ball screens. I would like to get to the point to where we are switching way more. I did think that our monster was effective tonight. Sorry, I’ll double-team in the post was effective today minus the fouls. You know, this is exactly what it is, we been practicing for 3.5 weeks, 4 weeks, 4.5 weeks. That is what this is. It is a preseason game. It was probably the most fun exhibition game I’ve ever been a part of. I know BBN was totally frustrated about playing the number one ranked team in the country in exhibition. But I like it, so you guys are going to have to live with it.
Q Mark, how valuable is a game like this for small situations like at the end of the half? There’s four seconds left, Purdue is probably really good at executing stuff like that.
MARK POPE: None of us are clean yet. You know, neither of us are clean at all. It was like BH sat on the bench for 19 minutes and 56 seconds and then to be able to put him in there where his length is ridiculous. This is an incredibly talented player, by the way, he’s going to be a big time pro. But for him to be responsive and go in there, he’s really difficult in that situation, he’s the best guy on our team by far. And there’s a lot of situations where he’s really good. And then for Malachi and Andrija to kind of talk out we are in a Brutus defense, which is a little bit of a different defensive scheme. And for those to be able to talk out the bigs matchup and Malachi to be able to chase that ball without fouling, to do it legally, all of those things were really important. We also had some really poor execution in short, late clock situations. It’s all a space where we are going to continue to grow and get better.
Q Mark, back here. I noticed after the game there was a lot of camaraderie. You were giving towels to put on Jasper’s head. What did you see from the chemistry from your team today during their first time in Rupp arena?
MARK POPE: I was proud of our guys. I thought our bench was elite. I thought Jaland Lowe was unbelievable on the bench. I thought Jaland Lowe, I thought he probably be my second player of the game. He was unbelievable on the bench. Keeping guys engaged and talking. I thought our staff was really good on the bench communicating. We are going to need that. This is going to be like every season is going to be up and down Rocky Road huge challenge season. We are going to have to overcome adversity. But you know, like we are trying to create habits. The more you do it the more it becomes a habit. There was some intangible stuff I thought we did pretty well tonight that we are working so hard to make it a habit. Alvin Brooks is probably the leader in all of basketball, actually Alvin Brooks, probably is in terms of body language and team communication. And he grades our team every single day on every single touch on every single beast mode on every single interaction. It’s a painstaking work, but it’s really important. We are going to have to continue to have that juice and get better and better and better at it and it shows in post game and we are going to be really successful if we can love each other. Like, we are going to be really successful if we can care about this team, 51% of us can care about this team, you know, that would be unprecedented if we could get there. And so our guys are working hard at it. They’re trying to develop habits, they are working hard to love each other and that’s going to be an every day all season long challenge for us that we are going to keep fighting. I love it. I think if we can do it, I think if we can do it, not only are we going to be a great team but we are going to be a great example to the world about, just like having something more important than just yourself. And these guys have a chance to be great, so, I mean we haven’t even started the season yet. But those are our goals. That’s what we’d like to do. Okay? Thanks guys.
KENTUCKY MEN’S BASKETBALL POSTGAME QUOTES
9/9 KENTUCKY VS. NO.1/1 PURDUE (EXH)
RUPP ARENA – LEXINGTON, KY.
October 24, 2025
UK Student Athletics
#10 Brandon Garrison, F
On preseason win against No. 1-ranked Purdue…
“Coach [Mark Pope] just tells us to go out there and do what we know. Even though it is an exhibition game, we wanted to come out and win like we did. We do not want to go too low or too high. Coach preaches that to us every day. We went out there and did our stuff.”
On the level of selflessness from UK this year…
“We have a very deep team with the young guys who are very talented. I feel like we have a deep roster and we can fatigue teams out like we did today. I feel like it will be a special year if we keep doing us.”
On how Jasper [Johnson] has been playing the past few weeks…
“Since he got here, we all knew he was a great offensive player. I feel like today he brought out his defensive side to show people he can guard and go get a bucket at the same time. I feel like he had a great first college game and he helped us get this big-time win.”
#9, Trent Noah, G
On handling Purdue’s big men…
“I thought they handled it great and I was expecting that because of the way that I watched them go about this whole week and go about the scout. It goes all the way to our 16th man, and then our GAs because they gave us great looks. Whenever we get out there, we know what is coming. Malachi [Moreno], [Brandon Garrison], [Mouhamad Dioubate], [Andrija Jelovic]—they did an exceptional job against a really good team.”
On what his team learned about themselves…
“I just think that, if we can solidify, we can be really, really good. We are super deep, and we just have to all buy into that and come together and play together. Some nights it will not be our night, some nights it will. That is the beauty of it. That is what it’s all about.”
On his first start inside Rupp Arena, even in an exhibition…
“It’s every little boy’s dream in Kentucky growing up. It really was super surreal. But there is nothing like [Big Blue Nation] either. You come in, in October, and play in front of a sold out crowd with Rupp Arena jumping—it is incredible. There is nothing like the fans that we have here. It is a real honor to be able to play for the state of Kentucky.”
#24, Malachi Moreno, C
On his birthday wishes…
“A win. I asked for a win for my birthday, and I got it. So, my wish came true.”
On tonight’s performance…
“[It] felt great. We had a tough test, [the] preseason number one team in the country, and we got the win. So, I think we really proved ourselves and really saw where we are at as a team and what we can improve on, and also what we are doing really good.”
On his team’s depth…
“That means we can keep going and going and going to stretches. There is nobody that has depth like us, in my opinion. I think we have a second unit that can come in and everybody is hungry, everybody is ready to eat. So, I think that is just a recipe for success.”
On his mindset entering college…
“I just came into college ready to work. College is a lot different than high school and—I think since then—it has only been trying to prove myself and just trying to get better every single day. So, I think that has been the main focal point for me and I think that has really helped me so far.”
On tonight’s environment…
“It was crazy. Honestly, that is [Big Blue Nation], and there is no better fan base in the country than BBN. So, that just shows, no matter where we are playing at, they are always there.
Matt Painter – Purdue Head Coach
On watching film before the game and the size of Kentucky…
“We do not do a lot of preparation, as you can tell, for these games. More than anything, I just thought they embraced the physicality of the game. I liked how they use [Brandon] Garrison; I like their five-out there. Malachi [Moreno] is a guy that we recruited, put a lot of time into; he’s got a promising future. They have a good mix of athletes and guys that can shoot. Those guys that came off the bench…I thought Jasper Johnson could have been the difference in the game. He made some big shots and made some big plays. I like what they do offensively. I think they are very similar to us…the fact that we got a lot of good shots today and we didn’t miss them, that has to be a concern for them. I do not think there is a lot of defense out there. I don’t think either team is going to get compared to ‘85 Bears right now. You can not outscore people all the time; you got to have a good balance. And I think that’s going to be an issue for both teams. I think both teams are pretty good offensively, but who can be better defensively? Who can be better at rebounding? Tonight, it was [Kentucky], especially rebounding. I thought we did a good job of taking care of the ball. We did a good job of getting good shots; we just didn’t knock it down. But, when we only turn it over seven times, you need to steal some possessions there. But, they only turned it over nine [times]. We grab two possessions there, and when they kick us by 12 [rebounds] on the glass and end up with 10 extra possessions, [that ends up] being pretty much the game. But I thought the tougher team won, you know, and that normally happens early in the year with this. I think they got a chance to have a good team.”
On what to use from this game…
“When people get the blow-byes, there is not a whole lot for that. Our point of attack, where we’re picking up the basketball, sometimes we can switch that up. We were up on them crossing half court, and then they had a couple ‘turn-downs’ in the first half that exposed us a little bit. But it was more of navigating 25 feet. [Collin] Chandler had that drive for the dunk. Jasper Johnson is very, very twitchy—change of direction, change of pace, really keeps you off balance with his stuff. Otega [Oweh], he’s good, man, getting angles and working downhill. I know he did not have a bunch of opportunities, did not have a bunch of minutes, but more than anything, you have to keep the ball in the paint. And I thought Kentucky just did a better job than us keeping the ball in paint. My thing is, it is not too much of a physical issue for me; it is more of a mental concentration. You have to concentrate and keep the ball in front of you. And sure, good players with quickness [and] with ball skills, are going to beat you at times, but they cannot beat you all the time. That is what you search out. We have to get that combination of balance on both ends.”
Purdue Players
#4 – Trey Kaufman-Reed, F
On what he learned about his team tonight..
“I think we have to do a much better job at rebounding. That is the biggest thing. We are going to have ‘two big’ lineups at all times. For the most part, people thought we would outrebound [Kentucky]. I think that is the biggest thing.”
On what he learned about his team tonight..
“Maybe I am too much of a gambler but I am thinking I have to shoot more now because I know the next 100 are going in. It [the one-handed shot] is a shot I take all the time and it has gotten me to this position, so we have to take it.”
On readjusting to playing with another big man in space…
“It is one of those things where it is going to get better as we continue to play. Our practices are very much ‘we play sometimes’ but a lot of us break down drills.”
