Kentucky-Manhattan Postgame Quotes
KENTUCKY BASKETBALL POSTGAME QUOTES
UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY MEN’S BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE
November 3, 2026
Lexington, Kentucky, USA
Coach Mark Pope
Press Conference
Kentucky – 85, Manhattan – 57
All right, we’re going to welcome Coach Pope to the podium following Kentucky’s 85 – 57 victory over Manhattan. A couple of notes. Alex Wilkins set a career-high in steals with 7 steals, which is the most by a player in a UK debut. And Milan Momcilovic also tied a record for three-pointers in a UK debut with 6.
MARK POPE: That’s really funny. I’ve got a stepstool here, guys. It’s perfect. I’m proud of our guys. It was an important first game for us to get on the court for a real game and feel what it’s like to be here in a game that counted. I thought our guys responded well, especially in the last 15 minutes of the first half. I thought the crowd was sensational. You know, I got a little distracted, as well as my team from the stands. I was hoping Chomps was here, he’s my new favorite football player. But I did not see him, disappointed in that, we will have a conversation about that. A lot of good from our team. The 20 assist are important. Especially in a first game where all of a sudden, stats matter. It was very important for us. 14 offensive rebounds was very important to us. That rebound percentage on missed 3s is a number that we are going to track really carefully all season long. It was great to see Milan make shots; I think we are going to see that every single night all season. Malachi had 5 offensive rebounds in the first half, which is important for his physicality to be felt in the game. BH displayed his length multiple times in the game. We got some great ball movement from guys. Overall, we are pleased with it. We’ve got a lot of work to do. We are young. In the second half we had a ton of slippage, which is not living up to our standard at all. That will be unacceptable here always. That is a place where we are going to grow. This is a team of learners. They’ve proven that all summer and all fall and all preseason and they will continue to learn. They learn fast. They will be better when we come out on Friday.
Q Mark, obviously not a perfect game. Stuff you’re going to want to improve on. What did it mean to you to see Zoom make some of those big plays and really get the fans behind him chanting his name?
MARK POPE: You know, Zoom is an integral part of this team. Sometimes when you nitpick individual plays or individual stats or individual things, and we are all drawn to that because those are the easy stories to tell. Zoom is like the great connector of our team. I heard a great sermon a couple of weeks ago about a gentleman was talking about a story where his buddy asked him to go on 100 miler with him. He ran the first 90 miles, and he dropped underneath of a tree. Just about dead, is like, I can’t do it. His friend knelt down beside him and gave him a hand. They staggered the last 10 miles, if you could imagine the last 10 miles together. And they actually finished right before the finish line and his friend said, hey, you go enjoy this finished by yourself, you did this. So, he saw a picture months later that was taken just at that exact moment when his friend, who kind of carried him through the race, told him to go finish by himself. And he saw for the first time that his friend was not just carrying his pack with all of his water and nutrition and everything else. He was carrying his also. He carried it the last 10 miles. That is Zoom Diallo. That’s who he is. He is carrying the pack for every guy on this team. His value is going to be always more than his numbers. He’s going to continue to grow and have success and he’s going to be a crucial part of what we are as a team this entire season.
Q Mark, you mentioned the slippage of the second half. There was the timeout I think 8:46 left. You guys were up 31. It seems like you really kind of lit into them. What is the message there in the situation like that? And what does it say about how you think about this team and you are up 31 and you still feel like that?
MARK POPE: We have a standard. From the very first day we talked about a standard here that we are going to fight to live up to every day. Our standard should be our floor. And it is what is acceptable. I think at the 11 minute mark, I think we had 3 out of 4 possessions that were turnovers and they were pretty careless and not physical enough. For us right now we are a young team and we are a team with a really high ceiling. We are not even close to it right now. We cannot waste a possession. And so, for us to be cavalier with possession in the second half is not acceptable here, it never will be. It’s part of what’s going to make us great is living up to the standard. Our guys will do it. Our guys are fast learners. And so the lessons tonight were really, really important. Maybe a little bit painful, but really important. Our guys will learn from it and they will be better tomorrow and the next day after that.
Q Talk about your bench tonight. I thought they came in the first half and really set the tone in the last 15 minutes of the first half.
MARK POPE: Yeah, I thought Justin came in with terrific energy. BH, obviously, was really good. Franck gave us some of his best minutes that he’s given us so far. Mason has been terrific the whole time. That group is going to be massively important for us. Because they can infuse a new life into the game. They will be important. I have a lot of faith in that group and they will continue to get better.
Q Mark, a big point of emphasis out of last season was distributors, guys that could move the ball. Was what you saw the last 15 minutes of the first half what you envisioned?
MARK POPE: Yes, the first 5 was the opposite. Next 15 was exactly where we would like to spend our life. It is actually beautiful basketball. I was proud of the guys for that little run.
Q Mark, given your background as an offensive kind of coach, what do you think about defense being the identity, potentially being the identity of this team this year with all of the length and size that you’ve talked about?
MARK POPE: Yeah, when we put this team together, we knew we would have to lean into our length. Length is our strength; we said that every day. Length is our strength, length is our strength. You have to meet a threshold for length to be your strength. Your feet have to be good enough and your intensity has to be good enough and the length can have some play and so it’s been length and our strength. It’s been connectivity and it’s been IQ. You know, you didn’t ask this. We had some transfer mig issues in our ball screen rotations against UCF where you establish the most important guy, it is a certain rotational position. And then at times you have to transfer it before you close the door on the drive and kick game. And we didn’t do it well last game. We did it really, really well tonight. So, you see our guys making progress in fine parts of the game, and it’s exciting. Length is going to be our strength. We are going to rely on it, depend on it, it’s really important to us. We need to do it legally. But our length was good tonight.
Q After Texas Tech, you are raving about Alex Wilkins just energy on the defensive end tonight. Coach Gallagher says I think he can be a real defensive menace in the SEC and he breaks a program record. Did you envision this kind of defensive upside for him?
MARK POPE: I think he has a massive upside in every side of his game. What I’ve been really impressed with him through the preseason and through tonight is the energy and how committed he is to competing on the defensive end. And he’s going to grow. If he will keep that commitment, he’s going to grow and get better. And I think his upside is high.
Q Coach, said Milan made shots tonight, and he’s going to do that in every game. 6 for 9 in a debut tie the record. What does it do for the rest of the players on your team when he’s hitting shots like that? What does it open up within your offense when he is making them at that level?
MARK POPE: It makes the floor really spaced out. We probably play 20 minutes offensively tonight where we were pretty good. And you just see there is so much space on the floor when our guys are really moving and they are being aggressive and physical downhill and earning power plays. He is like the sun, man. He just has so much gravity and he pulls defenders to him away from other guys on our team and makes everybody’s life easier.
Q I was going to ask you about Preston at JMU this Friday. What are your conversations like with Justin between now and then?
MARK POPE: With Preston or Justin or both?
Q With Justin.
MARK POPE: You know, in this time and age in college basketball I feel like every night we are going to play against somebody that we either coached or was playing for that other team. It’s just the way that it works, so it’s pretty normal. I don’t think there will be a big adjustment. I do think Preston Spradlin is one of the great human beings in the coaching profession. He’s a heck of a coach, man. He’s a big-time coach. He’s a better person. We’ve had a chance over the last few years to have some really, really long basketball based and a spiritually based conversations. I really admire him. I’m excited he’s coming to the gym. He’s a Kentucky guy and he’s a terrific coach. It’s going to be a great game.
Q Mark, can you kind of assess the growth of the team in terms of their decision-making? I know we look at turnovers and assist. What are some of the other things you are looking for that shows that your team is doing the things that you want them to do?
MARK POPE: We mentioned on the defensive end, our connectedness, our guys understanding when you are playing a team defensive scheme. A lot of times you are playing a rotation that’s 3 positions away from the ball. And our guys are getting better at communicating that, seeing that, identifying it. That is a place where we are growing and I’m proud of. In a general sense, I already mentioned. We probably had 20 minutes where we functioned at a pretty good decision-making space offensively. And then we probably spent half the game where the ball was dying and getting sticky and we just want spending time in places that we are familiar with. We’ve just got to keep moving that percentage up. It was made 50% today, it better be 70% or higher on Friday if we are going to win.
Q I want to big picture with you for a little bit. I’m curious about your philosophy on the social media criticism that rises up sometimes. It could be tempting to come out here and shout it down every time. What kind of conversations do you have with your guys and in the reality, you are paid, so there is going to be some more stuff?
MARK POPE: Well, we could spend a lot of time on that. The most important thing for our team that we’ve said since the first day we were here. It is the only opinion that matters to us is the one in our locker room. And we practice that. We actually talk about it. We’ve broken that down in 100 different ways. We probably address it every day or every other day in film sessions where it comes up somehow and we talk about it. You know, you have two options with criticism. You can let the criticism have impact on you in a negative way or you can take criticism and it can be something that solidifies a group together. Everybody’s going to face criticism, it’s part of the world today and it’s part of life. But we are not scared of it. We’ve got work to do and we are focused on the work and we are focused on winning. And so, that’s where we spend our time.
Q Mark, one of the things that really endeared you to the fan base was your enthusiasm, your positivity. It seems like some people are saying now that maybe you’ve changed your approach a little bit. I know that even Malachi hinted to this dark Pope per sauna with the beard and a little bit more defiant and guarded. Is that intentional on your part or are we just misinterpreting your demeanor?
MARK POPE: I don’t know exactly, how would you answer that question for me? I love what I do with such a deep passion, the fact that I get to do it here with these players. That I get to spend a few hours with Zoom Diallo trying to work through everything that’s happening in his life. And then I get to try to filter Milan Momcilovic, just this incredible talent, into what we do. And then I get to mentor Franck Kepnang as he tries to become a great player. And I get to do it at the University of Kentucky. There is nothing in the professional world that could bring me more joy than this job. I love every second of it. I’m just getting better at it.
Q Just looking ahead from that. Early signing period starts early next week. What are your expectations going into that and some of the recruiting momentum it seems you guys are having on the high school trail right now?
MARK POPE: Every year is a unique recruiting cycle. This is a unique recruiting cycle. And so we have been really active with the high school freshman in the fall recruiting period. But it’s got to be the right player, at the right time, at the right price. And we are trying to be smart and disciplined without decision-making. And I am really confident that we are going to end up exactly where we want to be. We are being incredibly intentional about this. I wish we could talk about everything we are doing with recruiting, but we can’t. But I like where we are right now and I like how we are going about it. Thanks guys, have a good night.
KENTUCKYVS. MANHATTAN
RUPP ARENA – LEXINGTON, KY.
NOVEMBER 3, 2026
UK Student-Athletes
#22, Milan Momcilovic F
On how much growth has been shown from Braydon Hawthorne…
“Yeah, I mean my first impression of him was I mean we guard each other probably most practices or similar positions, and I think my first couple 3s got tipped by him when I came here in the summer. I was just like he’s got a seven-five wingspan, so he honestly makes me a lot better in practice. Just because I got to find a way to get off quicker, get off around him because he’s so long. So, we have a lot of good matchups in practice, but I mean, he does a lot of good things for us out there. I mean, he just uses length very well. You know, tipped on his blocks. He had a couple nice mid posts, just you know kind of reminds me of Kevin Durant a little bit, so i mean obviously he’s still working a lot , but he’s gonna be good for us”
On how his 3-point shooting affects the offense as a whole …
“Yeah, I feel like seeing the ball go through the rim is just confidence for myself first, and then for my teammates a little bit. You know, when I hit a couple, it’s trying not to leave me. So hopefully, it opens up driving lanes for my teammates. Or you know, honestly, playing four on four sometimes just put me in the corner. The other guy’s not going to leave me, so four and four, and I guess something happened out of that.”
On how a big shot affects the atmosphere …
“Yeah, I think anytime you hit a big 3, it’s a big momentum play. Any offensive rebound three, we call it a dagger. That hurts, but it definitely is a switch of change of momentum. I thought we obviously started out slow today. I think our bench really picked us up, kind of there and went out and out. So, give credit to them, but there wasn’t really like a whole lot of momentum plays I guess in this game.”
Franck Kepnang
On his first time officially playing for Kentucky…
“Every time I put on that ceremonial cloth, we understand the importance of that. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing. I’m grateful, it’s a blessing to do it.”
On adjustment from Washington….
“In terms of the offense, the way he brings offense is the way that we translate to the next level, which is where I personally hope to play at.”
Manhattan University Head Coach John Gallagher
Opening Statement …
“First off, just want to thank the University of Kentucky, and the fan base. We spent two days here, first class. We’ve been all over the country, Kansas, and Duke, and this is as good as an experience as I’ve had. So, I want to thank everybody for that. Opening statement for us. Just one quick note: We had a professor on campus that got to Manhattan College in 1977. He passed away this week. Dr. Walter Saukin, he could have left for Princeton, could have left for Harvard in the engineering school. My thoughts and prayers are to his family. He was at every one of our practices. I just want to open it by dedicating this season to Professor Saukin. For this game, I just want to say I’ve known Coach for a long time. He’s a really good coach. We played against each other in Vegas, and I joked with him before the game in front of 30 people. We played when he was at Utah Valley, and I was at Hartford. I like his squad. For us, I thought we just didn’t make enough shots early, and their size really was a factor. And I studied them. Studied their three preseason games. They have a lot of pieces. They got shooters, and they got size. They’re going to be a handful in in SEC play, in my opinion.”
On Alex Wilkins scrappy game play and seven steals in the game…
“The thing that jumps out at me, we just played him last year, he was at Furman. He actually had seven turnovers in the game. He’s way more mature. I think he did a great job with the opportunity, and at the end of the day he really understands angles and his length bothers people. He’s a 6-foot-6 point guard. He’s going to be a handful. And he really understands when to go, when not to go, I think he could be a real defensive menace in the SEC.”
On Kentucky’s ball movement and how problematic it is to defend…
“They did a couple things that were unique. So we’re overhelping, like Nebraska does, Iowa State does, where you put a man in the hole, and then you put a gunner, it’s called a goalie and gunner. So they were skipping it, we give that skip up, but they manipulated the floor, putting the guy higher, and I give them a lot of credit, but Mark at the end of the day, he did a good job finding manipulation. Now we have to believe there’s a challenge to that. We’re just not ready for that. So I think what happened, they really did a good job of spacing us. This will be a really good game tape for us to study.”
On Milan’s ability and impact on the game…
“Studying him a little bit at Iowa State and just seeing his release, I think for us it’s changing our system to say we’re not going to leave him. We’re not seeing Kentucky in the Metro Atlantic Conference. So what we have to worry about is what we’re doing. This 129 days until the first round of the NCAA tournament, we may manipulate our defense a little bit, but what I see in him, I see an NBA player, because of his release, and you can see it in how he never dips the ball, his shots go off less than probably 0.4. I would like to see how quick his release is because we were close and quick on, and that was off, very impressive. I obviously study this for a living, probably the quickest release I’ve seen in three or four years. It reminds me of the kids that’s in the NBA for Michigan that was a division lll player and then went to Michigan.”
