Kentucky-North Carolina Central Postgame Quotes
UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY MEN’S BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE
December 9, 2025
Lexington, Kentucky, USA
Coach Mark Pope
Press Conference
Kentucky – 103, North Carolina Central – 67
Q Coach, all week you talked about the post-game ending of the last game. And then on your show last night about effort, about resetting. It seemed like you were sending some messages to some guys, keeping guys in who were playing hard. Just talk about that tonight and the effort you got from guys and maybe some of the messages you sent.
MARK POPE: Yeah, we just have a standard that we have to live up to and we are not. And we have to. And so, we’ll keep fighting until we do.
Q Kind of along those lines, Mark. You kind of lit into BG there with about eight minutes left, called the timeout. He obviously didn’t play again. That’s about as fired up as I have ever seen you since you’ve been here. Are you intentionally taking a different demeanor with this team? Because it seemed like you kind of stayed with that the rest of the game.
MARK POPE: We just have a lot of growing we have to do right now, and we’ll grow. We have good guys. We have competitive guys. We don’t know really what it means to compete yet, which is terrifying. But we will learn. We are going to learn, we are going to learn, we are going to learn fast.
Q Hi, Coach. 27 assists tonight, that ties the season high. What do you attribute that to and what did you like from the ball movement?
MARK POPE: Collin Chandler had a great night for us. At 8-1, that’s really impressive. And he was at 8-1-1 and was a big catalyst for us. You know, I thought our guys managed the zone and the changing defense pretty well. I think, you know we got stagnant a little bit, but they did a nice job trying to make a play for each other. And we just needed to carry over into more competitive games.
Q Mark, you moved Trent back into the starting lineup tonight. I know the ankle injury maybe kind of stunted the early part of his season. What did you like from Trent tonight and maybe what can kind of be stretched out to some of those high major games like you mentioned?
MARK POPE: I like Trent every night. Trent is not a perfect player and there are some things complicated for them in areas of the game where he struggles. He’s all in, he’s fully invested and he’s going to give everything he’s got all of the time on the floor and he’s pretty effective and I thought he was good tonight. I thought he gave good looks. I thought he was aggressive. He probably had her best defensive play the first half. We finally got a third defender engaged. And so, you know, Trent is, he’s a really important part of this team and he’s got a chance to grow into a terrific player and great leader and I’m proud of him. And you know, just like all of our guys, he’s trying to figure it out.
Q What did you see from your defense tonight and maybe how did it look different from that last couple of games?
MARK POPE: I was disappointed in our defense tonight. I was disappointed with the fouls. I was disappointed with the late gap help. I was disappointed with the on-ball, ball screen pressure. We need to be way more up the line, way more aggressive then turn the guy around rather than just kind of pick us apart. I felt like our third defender was hit or miss. And they did a nice job spacing the floor where the floor was really overloaded and so you had your third defender just naked on the weak side. And we have to make that play and we didn’t tonight, for the most part. So, there was a lot of room for us to grow. We got to clean up the fouls, we gotta cleanup the gap help. We gotta take some pride in keeping guys in front of us. If we are going to be a really good team in competitive games, those are spaces we have to grow. And this group will. You know, I love these guys, we just need to get better there. And we will.
Q Going back to the not knowing what it means to compete. We heard all summer fall about how competitive those practice were, with talent on talent. Was that overblown at the time or is that just not translating to games, and if not, any idea why?
MARK POPE: It hasn’t translated. It hasn’t translated yet. But it will. Yet is the most powerful word, is the best word in the English language. It’s 3 letters that are super powerful and it hasn’t translated yet, but it will. It will. We will be so proud of this team, We’re not yet, but we will be. That competitive spirit, man, I’ve done a poor job of getting that out of our guys in games, which is monumentally frustrating for me. But we will get it out and we are gonna find it or we are gonna die trying. And so it’s there. We’ve just got to get it and find a way to do it. We’ve got to get guys outside of themselves and we’ve got to get guys living and dying for this team and in this gym, with this fan base in these games and in competitive games, when things go bad, we have to be able to tap into that. So far, I’ve done a poor job of listening to that from our guys and nobody is more surprised about that than I am. That’s not going to stand.
Q Mark, 22 points for Jasper tonight. Led the team with a +30 in the plus minus category. Did you feel like tonight was any kind of major growth moment for him and just his development throughout the early course of the season, that you’ve seen from Jasper?
MARK POPE: I’m proud of Jasper. You know he’s trying, you know it’s a steep learning curve. I think he’s trying to take in all of the information the best he can. I thought his very first play in the game, I thought he had some force downhill which has been a really important part of him. And again, it’s got to translate into better games. It’s no mystery what we have to do. We have to translate some of these things into more competitive games. I’m proud of his progress and his whole heart is in this and I expect big things from him as we move forward in the season, just like all of our guys.
Q Mark, you talked about finding the competitive spirit. Have you talked to any individual players about driving that from within the team or has that just have to happen naturally?
MARK POPE: I’ve talked to all of our individual players about that on a regular basis and we will continue to have those conversations.
Q Mark, Otega tonight had a big game and you talked and talked about how it has to happen in more competitive games. The one time I saw him gather the guys around him and was getting pretty intense in that huddle. What did you think of his effort tonight and maybe taking steps towards leading some those other guys?
MARK POPE: I thought he was great, really only one of the things good things we saw coming out of the first half is he had Lattimore 1 for 10. And he was pretty much solely responsible for that and it was a guy who averaged 20 points a game and a good player and run a lot of action for him. And Otega kinda took that on and said, hey, I going to make sure we handle this. I think he’s really trying to rally the guys. He’s trying to show some leadership. You know, he played well on both ends of the ball tonight. I thought Otega is really important for us and he’s carrying a big load. And he’s got to. That’s what you do and that’s your job and he’s going to continue to grow in that and we need him to be great moving forward. Thanks guys.
KENTUCKY BASKETBALL POSTGAME QUOTES
KENTUCKY VS. NC CENTRAL
RUPP ARENA – LEXINGTON, KY.
DECEMBER 9, 2025
#2, Jasper Johnson
On the effort of the team…
“There were a couple possessions we could have played better, but we’re still learning, figuring each other out, always trying to give 110% effort every time we step on the court.”
On if he feels a difference since the Purdue game…
“No, I feel like we are just trying to compete and we’re learning each other. We had a long summer of preparation, so coming to the first game of the year, we were all excited and energized. Different things can impact the game of basketball, but I feel like we’re all working, and practicing really hard, just trying to get better.”
On tying season high in assists…
“Being more decisive when we’re playing. I think at some times, guys can be hesitant, but Coach Pope is really pushing for us to be aggressive and make plays for our teammates.”
#00, Otega Oweh
On playing someone like you have had enough…
“I mean we lost the last game so we just had to get some intensity back. I’m just trying to set the time. I feel like it kind of starts with me, you know, defensively, having a high motor. I feel like I kind of set the—even my defense because I feel like that sets the pace and the tempo for offense as well. So, you know, I feel like when my energy is high, I feel like we’re better.”
On one on one conversations with Coach Pope…
“Yeah, I mean I meet with Coach Pope, we meet a lot. He kind of really opened my eyes to it. Because obviously, you know, coming in my last year, all the other stuff, the outside stuff could get to you, but you know, I’m just trying to simplify it. Focus on one thing when you come into the game and watch how everything else goes. So that’s really what it is. Just focusing on one thing, focusing on the best thing.”
On Pope getting mad at Brandon Garrison…
“No, no but it was justified. It gets to a point where we as players get sick and tired of you know, the same thing over and over again. So, I mean it was right in the moment.”
#9, Trent Noah
On Pope starting whoever gives the most effort…
“I mean, that’s his decision. He’s got so many guys that he could go with, and so many different lineups because we’re so talented, we’re so deep, but I mean, just kind of mixing the puzzle pieces around, trying to see what works and go from there.”
On playing after ankle injury…
“Yeah, it was cool. I mean, there’s nothing like playing in Rupp Arena and kind of getting a start and a regular season game is super awesome, super grateful for it. There’s nothing like BBN.”
On what was working on the court…
“They kind of went into that zone, and my teammates were making plays. Otega has a couple good plays. He penetrated and kicked out. We have so many good players, so have to respect them, and then it kind of got me open a little bit. We’re just kind of playing on each other.”
NC Central Quotes
Head Coach LeVelle Moton
Opening statement…
“First and foremost, it was truly a pleasure and honor, not only for me personally, but just for our program, to have the opportunity to come play here at Rupp Arena. Being a basketball historian myself, I got a little awe when I saw Jack Givens. I had to run and give him a hug and all those things, and cheerleaders gave me a shirt, so I appreciate that, and I come bearing gifts too. But I sent y’all a kid, that’s like a nephew of mine by the name of John Wall, so I think he more than worth a shirt, so I expect a lot more of these for Christmas. But nonetheless, I thought we competed, and that was the thing. Instead of playing 40 minutes, I wanted them playing 10 four minute wars, in those increments, just give our guys a chance. I thought the first four it was 10-7, and it kind of got away from us at the seven minute mark, from the seven minute mark to the three minute mark, they went on a 18-2 run. I thought the crowd was here, but I ain’t think they were really into the game, and then that got them into the game, gave them some energy. Second half, we competed, and I thought after the first war, the first media, we were plus one, so I was happy with that. But what happens when you play teams such of this magnitude, they just have so much depth, and they just to continue to weigh you down, weigh you down, and they were a little bigger, faster, stronger, and so we just gave them to make shots. Jasper did an outstanding job of doing that, and 00 did an outstanding job of doing that, but nevertheless, there are some positives that we can take away from this. We had 16 assists, could’ve been more, we just missed a lot of open shots. I thought our zone caused them some problems, but overall, I’m happy with the way we competed.”
On the opening 10 minutes…
“With us, most teams of this magnitude, with all due respect, struggle against zone defense because they come from conferences where they believe their defense is better than everyone else’s. It’s all man-to-man, and there’s a lot of ego involved. We don’t have that ego. We don’t switch out of our defenses until the opponent proves they can figure it out. We’ve thrown things at them that we know they haven’t seen before. And once they start adjusting or scoring against it, we change it again. We really put the whole kitchen sink out there. Even though we still gave up 103 points, I thought we competed. We’re a relatively new group, 12 new guys who have never been in these positions or been asked to do the things we’re asking them to do. Honestly, I thought Corey was the best big on the floor tonight. He played only five minutes a game at Morehead State, and now I’m telling him he needs to play 35, and not only that, but that we’re going to give him the ball. That’s a huge mentality shift. It won’t happen overnight, but they’re trying to do the right things. They’re giving everything they have, competing, and not getting shell-shocked. A lot of teams come in here already down 10 just because it’s Rupp Arena. I wouldn’t let our guys look at the Jumbotron or the crowd, or watch the cheerleaders throw shirts, even though I did catch one. I just wanted them to stay locked in and compete.”
