UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY MEN’S BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE
March 1, 2025
Lexington, Kentucky, USA
Coach Mark Pope
Press Conference
Kentucky 78, Auburn 94
MARK POPE: Auburn played great basketball tonight. They’ve been playing great basketball all season long. Bruce has done an unbelievable job, not just assembling, but growing and fitting together the pieces on their team. So, congratulations to them. We are pretty disappointed with our performance. Will take questions.
Q Mark, back here. How concerning is it that the potential national player of the year had a pretty big game? You guys deserve credit for that, holding him in check. But despite that, Auburn still leads by 20 for a lot of that second half. How concerning that your perimeter defense did not hold up?
MARK POPE: Man, we really struggled with that. Give credit to Auburn. The first six minutes they had back to back 3s off the glass. Sometimes there is a little bit of that involved but we certainly didn’t ring the bell. Schematically we didn’t. Individually we didn’t. That’s a place where we were very poor tonight. We’ve actually been making strides, but we’ve regressed a little bit tonight.
Q Mark, you guys have obviously have had half time comebacks. That first three minutes of the second half, six turnovers, and I think five in like a fifty second span. What did you see from your angle in that stretch?
MARK POPE: Yeah, it was really unfortunate. It was more of a manifestation of I think the stress that we were feeling and feeling sped up. Because none of them were forced. We were just dribbling the ball out of bounds. And thats, actually you can give credit to Auburn for that. They got us in a hole and you can put the blame for that on me. I wasn’t able to get the guys to a place where could just kinda be present in execution of the moment. That’s what happens when you get under duress and you, you know, you are carrying around baggage. You have really inexplicable series of plays like that. It was a pretty devastating run for us, for sure.
Q Mark, you talked a lot this year about energy. Do you think energy was where it needs to be, if not why do you think so?
MARK POPE: I would love to make excuses on that. That ultimately falls on my shoulders. Credit goes to Auburn also. They’ve done this, you know they’re a good team. They made really hard shots tonight and their switching was a deenergizer for us and we did not respond to it as well at all. You know, we kind of let frustration mount a little bit and, you know, it was probably a whole slew of exclusives. Late travel, late game, all the things with a quick turnaround. At the end of the day, that’s just what you deal with as a basketball player. I failed to lead our team today to have the energy that is required for us to come out and be great. It’s not a lack of desire. There’s a, it was a whole cocktail of some energy miscues, some being sped up miscues. Some terrific shot making from Auburn. All put together resulted in a really, really terrible day for us.
Q Coach, you talk about Auburn speeding you guys up. Only four made threes tonight. I think you only got 14 or 15, somewhere in that range. In the beginning of the season, you talked about wanting to get 30 to 35 a game. What were they doing defensively and what weren’t you doing offensively to get those shots?
MARK POPE: First, the most important thing was the only time we had any flow to the game is when we had some pace and we just gave up on a pace game. We gave up on it full-court. I can’t tell you how many times we grabbed a rebound and we are frozen there. That’s the exact opposite of the team that we are, that we built. Clearly, we are dealing with some complicated rotation changes. But that’s where our life is and that’s where we’re great and that’s why we have been one of the top offensive teams in the country. We failed to actually push that, you know, we just, I don’t know, actually is the answer. Again, it’s probably a combination of things. Fatigue, changing lineups, the frustration of the moment. But when we actually push the ball, we got some good flow in the game for moments. And then we just didn’t. That wasn’t really something that Auburn was doing on possession. It was us just stopping. And then in the half court a lot of credit goes to Auburn. They were switching all of our flow stuff at our guys. We failed to be forceful enough to make the plays that we need to make. Again, it was a combination of things.
Q Mark, back here. Lamont, you could kind of tell his shoulder, his shot is not there yet. If that just going to be rushed. What are you seeing from him and then for Jaxson, is he even going to come back here this week, this regular-season, what about him?
MARK POPE: Yeah, the best thing about tonight was Lamont got through the game. That’s the best thing. Every game and play he gets through is better. He got beat up on some screens and he still made it out alive. I thought he was probably our brightest spot tonight in terms of his ability to get down and get to two feet and make plays and have a little bit of defensive presence. He was probably the best thing for us. Like I said, every play he gets through is really positive because he’s on his way back. He’s got two more games to really get to the elite level that he’s played at for most of the season. I’m really happy he’s making progress. Jax is, we kind of came to the final conclusion last night that he’s going to get surgery. So, he is going Wednesday to the world specialist to have surgery on his wrist. He’s got a torn sub sheath to his ECU tendon so what’s happening is it is slipping out and when he went down, you know, we kind of knew that he was going to need surgery but he just wanted so badly to play. He rehabbed it and had an injection to try to make it functional. And then he was doing okay and he went down the first half at Oklahoma. So, it’s in a groove and there’s a sheath around it that holds it in place. That is ripped, the distal side of it, I think it’s the distal side of it is just ripped a little bit and so now it’s coming out of the groove and after the hit it actually relocated it a little more. There’s just no way that he’s going to be able to play. The good news is that he will go have the surgery with, literally, the world’s number one surgeon during this particular procedure. It’s a three-month till 100% full recovery. He will be good to go the first of June, the end of May and continue on with his great basketball career.
Q Mark, you mentioned Auburn’s ability to switch a lot on defense. Just how different does their length in athleticism make them compared to some of the other top teams that you guys have played?
MARK POPE: Right now, they are the best team in the country. You know, they punished us tonight, for sure. It’s a real credit to their guys, to their players, and a real credit to coach Pearl and their staff because they do a lot of switching on the fly. There is a lot of communication on the fly. And, you know, there were only small moments in the game where we were able to take advantage of that and they communicate so well together and they have so much makeup ability that it makes it really difficult. And they also play with tremendous energy. They have a length. You know, they are playing elite level basketball. So, just a ton of credit to those guys. Thanks guys.
KENTUCKY BASKETBALL POSTGAME QUOTES
#17 KENTUCKY VS. #1 AUBURN
RUPP ARENA – LEXINGTON, KY.
MARCH 1, 2025
Kentucky Player Quotes
#4 Koby Brea
On Jaxson’s injury, knowing he’s played his last college game…
“It’s unfortunate. Super big loss for us as a team, but more importantly, just thinking about him. He’s an amazing human being, so I hate to see him go down like that and have to play his last game in the last game without even knowing it until recently. We’re just going to continue to be there for him. He’s a super important piece to our team. He’s done great things for us, helped us along the way, and he’s going to continue to do that. But most importantly, we’ve just got to be there for him.”
On what was missing today…
“I think it was just our defense, our intensity. I don’t think our defensive intensity was where it had to be, letting their three guards go up the way that they did. I put that on us, the guards, we’ve got to do a better job. We will do a better job, most importantly. But yeah, that was the biggest factor.”
On Auburn hitting tough shots but our team not…
“We’ve got to be able to defend at a high level and stay true to ourselves offensively. We got a couple of turnovers in the first half to start the second half, and that was kind of a turning point. It was kind of hard to climb back against a team like that, so we’ve just got to do a better job pretty much.”
#7, Andrew Carr
On how injuries have taken its toll…
“Everybody has stepped up, it has been difficult. I think it is going to make everybody better in the long run. I think this is giving everybody a lot of experience and making free plays for us. It comes down to us by adding to our depth and making us a more complete team.”
On Auburn taking away the 3-point shot…
“Yeah, they definitely stayed out on shooters on penetration and things like that wanted us to finish at the rim. That added to what I was getting at with the way they switched and were super physical with us. We were not able to get into the side ball screens, we weren’t really able to get into any ball screens that we normally try to earn on the side. I feel like we get an advantage on that for the play and also credit for them to making all their shots”
On Jaxson Robinson not coming back and what it means for the team…
“I think everybody has the mindset of stepping up and helping whenever they possibly can. And be able to get better throughout the season, as tough as it is for Jaxson. We all try to be there for him and we know he would kill and die to be out there with us right now. Everybody knows that we need to go out there and do it for him if not for anything else. People are going to step up for us and for Jaxson.”
#1 Lamont Butler
How do you feel physically…
“I feel good right now. Tough game, we didn’t execute a lot of things that we wanted to. hey kind of took, took a lot of things away, and then we couldn’t get to the next thing, which led to a bunch of turnovers and defensively. We weren’t given the effort. I feel good coming out of this game with my shoulder and everything. So all we can do is prevent it from here.”
Shutting down Johni Broome…
“I think our bigs did a great job of, you know, holding him down, making every shot tough for him. Every catch tough for him. You know as guards, I think we were getting killed on these screens, and we must fight over those more, contest legally and just get back in practice.”
On Jaxson out for season…
“Yeah, Definitely feel for Jax and praying for his speed of recovery. I think it’s tough to be out for the season at this point, but we’re a resilient team, and I think it’s just a next man up mentality. We’re just going to have to step up and step up to the plate and bring our A game every day so we can win games.”
Auburn Head Coach Quotes
Opening statement…
“I just want to say something that I hope y’all find funny. I was prepared to win but I was
also prepared to lose, which I’ve done a lot in this building. Last time I had a win here
Chris Lofton, I’d be curious how many he had but it was in the high 20’s, had a big
game and obviously Miles Kelly had a huge game tonight. But my line was going to be
every now and then when y’all have a coaching change my name comes up and I
wonder why in the world y’all want me to be your coach when I can’t win in Rupp. That
was going to be my line but having coached at southern Indiana in Evansville, Indiana,
having coached in division two for a long time, y’all remember what great basketball
there is in the state of Kentucky and Indiana and how much y’all love your high school
basketball, but you also love your division two basketball because y’all respect the
game so much. There are no more knowledgeable fans anywhere in the country than
right here in Kentucky. So, there have been times I’ve brought really good teams in here
and we have gotten spanked, and every now and then I walk away going I thought that
Pearl could coach, a little bit, and he can, but you know whatever. So, I wanted to bring
a team in and I wanted to play good basketball. I want to honor the game whether we
win or lose, and we’ve played well a couple times and got beat, but this is obviously
historic. Two wins, 31 losses, and 33 tries, and for this one to be for a championship this
is what we do it for, to make history. This is our fifth team in the last eight years that has
won either regular season or a tournament championship so I’m just super proud and
super happy about that”.
The depth of Auburn…
“It says a lot about the culture. It says a lot about chemistry. It says a lot about the guys
calling up the lord, giving God the glory, and trying to do the best of their ability to live
that life. Denver Jones only played eleven minutes; he’s our starting point guard. He’s
our best defender and he just couldn’t go. Good news it was x-rayed and it’s just a bone
bruise, so he’s going to recover from it, he’s a tough kid. I was worried he had a broken
bone. Williams from Kentucky is good, Kentucky’s big guys are good, so Johni didn’t
have as big an advantage down there on the inside. We knew we were going to have to
make shots against Kentucky. Why? Because if you get in there and throw some stuff
up and they block shots and they get you in transition, that’s when the Wildcats are
really good. They’re great in transitions. We wanted to make sure that we ran our
offense and not turn the ball over. Accept some bad shots with some spacing. Miles
Kelly of course made a couple of bad shots go in.”
Clinching the league with a week left…
“There are a lot of good teams in this league. Right now, Florida and Alabama are on
our heels. This Kentucky team has beaten seven teams in the top fifteen. This Kentucky
team has five wins over top ten teams. So, they’re obviously very capable. Steven Pearl
is our defensive coordinator, Mike Burgomaster the offensive coordinator. Those two
guys put together an unbelievable game plan. Taking the three ball away from Kentucky
is important. Coach Pope runs the best five out anywhere in college basketball and we
run some five out too. And because we ran some, we know how to defend it, and we did
a great job defending it and yet we still got some great looks ourselves.
Auburn Player Quotes
#0, Tahaad Pettiford
On the most playing time all year…
“You know, knowing who’s going down, just having to step up as a freshman. I was prepared,
and I’m ready. Coach adjusts in situations like this, so the time presented itself, and I was
ready.”
On confidence they play with …
“Just coach putting that knockback telling us, you know, if you got it, shoot it. Just giving us a
confidence, having our back during the rough times. Knowing that, you know, we got backup
players that can come in and do whatever we need to do to win at any time. So just knowing
that having that type of bench, that type of confidence from your coaches, helps us a lot.”
On slowing down the second half …
“They played a lot of drops, so just coming off screens and reading what defense was doing,
and then just seeing the gaps that I can attack. I just took advantage of that.”
#13, Miles Kelly
On what got into you today, almost breaking an Auburn record…
“I just came out feeling it. First possession down, they came at me but after that I was just
feeling it from there. The rubber rims, I love them. They felt good and every time I shot the ball,
I thought it was going in, and my teammates did a great job finding it.”
On how important it was to not take the crowd out of the game early…
“I mean, it was super important. I mean, we know when teams and when we play away, a lot of
their energy comes from the crowd. So being able to take them out the game and kind of kill
their confidence a little bit, it was super important for us and we just did that the whole game.”
On taking Kentucky away from the three-point line …
“I mean it’s just like you said, I think we do the best job in the country of preparing and
scouting, and that was the game plan to run them off the line. We knew they had some good
shooters, some great shooters, shooting deep, and we just executed that game plan, and it
came to fruition.”
