Big Blue Preview: Kentucky vs. Ohio State
Kentucky head coach Mark Pope played for one of the most intense coaches in the history of college basketball in Rick Pitino. Pope credits Pitino with showing him the ropes and Pope definitely takes some of his philosophies from Pitino.
However, one of those philosophies has changed in recent years.
“Throughout my whole basketball career as a player and then the first half of my coaching career, I was about ‘how long can you sustain a level 10 intensity and focus’,” Pope said. “I would spend 24 hours a day pacing and criticizing and yelling and being in game mode. Full on intensity. I wonder where I got that from.”
Then, Pope change the way he approached his work. It started at Brigham Young University, where he was the head coach.
“I started working with this group at BYU, four clinical psychology faculty members who just changed everything I knew about coaching,” Pope said. “It just changed the whole way that I actually approach this. Instead of being laser-focused every second emotionally and mentally on the game, we flipped to a totally different philosophy and it’s been brilliant. It fits us better now.”
Pope’s Kentucky team has already had team-building experiences, beginning over the summer and carrying into the regular season. The Cats have had experiences in both Atlanta and Seattle, and will have another opportunity this weekend, as they travel to New York to face Ohio State in the CBS Sports Classic. Pope truly believes these moments build team chemistry.
“The upside is massive,” Pope said. “One of the upsides is that this connective tissue that you build on a team, it happens when you get to put guys in different scenarios and different environments with new experiences where they get to share it together. It builds this cohesiveness that I actually think wins in a brilliantly unique way. And it’s important. It’s super intentional and it’s really important to building a team for us. And that’s been new for us.”
Sometimes, the UK head coach still can’t believe that he has changed.
“The fact that we’re going on a trip to go play a game at Madison Square Garden and we’re going to do anything that’s not only grit your teeth, full sweat basketball, was really foreign to me three or four years ago,” Pope said. “But our guys respond to it great.”
Pope and his Cats are ranked No. 4 in the country and bring a 10-1 record into Saturday’s game against the Buckeyes. Ohio State is 7-4 on the season and is coming off a 95-73 win over Valparaiso on Tuesday.
For Kentucky, it’s another chance to face a formidable opponent on the court. But it’s also another opportunity for team bonding, which has become very important to Pope’s coaching philosophy.
Butler Goes Bonkers, Named National Player of the Week
Lamont Butler had the game of his life as Kentucky defeated rival Louisville on Dec. 14, scoring a career-high 33 points while shooting a perfect 10 of 10 from the field and 6 of 6 from 3-point range.
The point guard, who had missed the two games prior to Louisville due to injury, bettered his previous career-high by 10 points and also set a new personal benchmark for made 3s in a game with six.
He was selected as the game’s Most Valuable Player by the Bluegrass Sports Commission, and also hauled in USBWA National Player of the Week and SEC Player of the Week honors.
Some additional notes on the performance:
• Butler’s 33 points were the most by a Wildcat this season
• It’s the second-most for a Wildcat vs. Louisville, Derrick Miller scored 34 on Dec. 30, 1989
• His 10-of-10 shooting night tied for the third-best shooting performance in school history
– Rodney Dent 12 of 12 vs. Morehead State (Dec. 1993)
– Kenny Walker 11 of 11 vs. WKU (March, 1986)
– Justin Edwards 10 of 10 vs. Alabama (Feb, 2024)
• His 6-of-6 3-pointers are the second-best 3-point performance in school history. Wenyen Gabriel hit all seven 3s he attempted against Alabama on March 10, 2018
• The six made 3s tied Jeff Brassow (Dec. 29, 1990) for the most by a UK player vs. Louisville
• Butler is only the second SEC player in the last 20 years to finish with 30 or more points on 100% field-goal shooting
• As of Dec. 14, he is the only player in Division I this season to score at least 30 points on 100% shooting from the field
• Since 1996-97, Butler is the only Division I player to make all of his shots, score at least 33 points and have at least six assists
CBS Sports Classic
When UK meets Ohio State on Saturday, it will mark the 11th straight year of Kentucky participating in the CBS Sports Classic, which annually brings together four of the nation’s most successful college basketball programs.
UCLA (11), Kentucky (8), North Carolina (6) and Ohio State (1) have combined for 26 national championships and 66 Final Four appearances. UCLA, Kentucky and UNC rank first, second and third, respectively, in national championships, while all four participating programs rank in the top six all-time for Final Four berths. The schools have also combined for more than 8,500 victories.
The Wildcats own a 5-5 record all time in the event, and are 0-2 against Ohio State. Last season, UK secured an 87-83 win over North Carolina in Atlanta. The event returns to Madison Square Garden for the second time, having been held there in 2022.
