Kentucky-Georgetown Postgame Quotes
UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY MEN’S BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE
October 30, 2025
Lexington, Kentucky, USA
Coach Mark Pope
Press Conference
Kentucky 70, Georgetown 84
MARK POPE: I felt like Georgetown was great tonight. I felt like they were really, really physical. I thought they came in with a really good game plan. It was exactly what we had kind of hoped to get out of this game. We had hoped we had a different outcome. We are massively disappointment with ever losing on this floor. So that is brutal for us right now. And it’s not going to sit well with our guys and is certainly not sitting well with me. And this is an unbelievable opportunity for us to learn so much. So, it’s both those things. But that’s never going to be an okay outcome for us. Hit me.
Q Mark, you talked about learning so much about your team in these exhibitions. Do you learn more about beating preseason number one Purdue or do you think you learn more from taking it on the chin tonight?
MARK POPE: I think both. I think this is really important, like this is a really, really important game for us. You know, you are always looking to expose, to get exposed through these six weeks you are trying every way you can to expose yourself and they did an unbelievable job about exposing the spaces where we don’t expose ourselves and Purdue didn’t expose ourselves. It’s a terrific opportunity for us to learn, which is what we want right now. At the same time, we don’t do this here. So, it’s both.
Q Mark, you talked about wanting to be a top 10 team in defensive efficiency this season. That’s a really important goal for you guys. Now that the regular season is almost here, what gives you the confidence that’s a realistic goal for this team?
MARK POPE: I do think we have some toughness and some fight, although we were out physical the whole night tonight. They really picked on us. It was going to be something, I’m grateful for that in the sense of it just puts it on film for our guys to understand better. But they were really successful. I thought Ed did an unbelievable job picking on us and putting some of our guys in the grinder and guys, we just weren’t ready to step up to that challenge as a team. They did a nice job in the first half exploiting some ball screen defensive issues. Kind of getting rid of our third defender and playing a slip game and then you know they really hurt us from midrange stuff downhill a bunch either coming off wide pins or getting down on off the ball swings hurt us. And in the second half they hurt us a little more in isolation. I thought we were a little better handling those things and we got more aggressive on ball screen defenses. Most of the time that had a positive impact that leaves me walking away thinking there is some space for us to play that way. Just our third defender was poor all night long. Heavy credit to Georgetown for making that part of the game difficult for us. So, there’s so much to learn, so much to grow. That’s why we’re are doing it.
Q Mark, during practice yesterday, we could hear you say several times, make the simple play over and over again. It looked like that might have been a little bit of an issue in this one.
MARK POPE: Yeah, it’s interesting. Just as a general vibe of the game. We got slower and less patient instead of playing faster and more patient. And I know that sounds contradictory. But that’s exactly what happened to us and it was a credit to Georgetown scheme and their physicality that we actually got slower and more impatient. And so, it’s a great opportunity for us to learn how to kinda fall into ourselves a little bit better. But I felt like we turned down a simple play a lot. There were times when we did where we just missed some shots, but for the most part, I think Georgetown did a nice job, kind of challenging us to really have to be insanely physical to get out of the power play and make a play for our team and we turned it down most of the time. The film is going to be pretty brutal for us. You know, we have nothing to do with this now but grow from it. And to feel some pain and some embarrassment and that’s, you know, I hate every bit of it, but if we treat it right, it will serve us well.
Q Mark, the last time Georgetown was here was 85 for the championship game. Obviously, Rupp arena was a state-of-the-art place back then. All of the renovations that have taken place. It’s still not a place now where it’s a maximize revenue 70s suites kind of place. How do you see the balance with respecting tradition and obviously it means so much to play here. But we are moving towards this college athletic landscape where it’s about maximizing revenue and generating as much as you can. Where do you see kind off that balance?
MARK POPE: There is not an easy answer there. You are going to be threading the needle’s always. You can’t be held hostage by sentimentality and tradition but you have to honor it. And so it’s both. It’s just like most things in life, it’s both. You’ve got to find a way to move forward. You know, we should be leading the way, which we do, Mitch and President Capilouto are leading the way in so many incredible ways so we want to keep leading the way with innovation and kind of being the forward thinking group. And to do it well, honoring tradition. But that’s actually the real answer. So we have to find a way to do that where we are really, really emphasizing the beauty of this building that’s been here and celebrated with great teams for so long.
Q Coach, you said last season the assisted turnover ratio was a really good indicator of where your team is at. Tonight it was 14 to 15, one more turnover can you just kinda speak to that discrepancy?
MARK POPE: Yeah, for me it’s an indicator of the game for us. We see a number like that. Our guys were actually really forceful getting downhill and most of the game we just fell into the trap of not doing that to make plays for teammate. It’s just is hard. That’s that part of playing slower and getting more impatient. It’s kind of like you have to be good enough to actually put your head down and be insanely physical getting downhill but still have the insight and IQ while you are doing that to actually be a playmaker, not to just, you know not to lose your mental approach to the game as you bring on the physicality and kinda fall into the trap. I thought we were very poor at that tonight. I’m really grateful it happened now rather than the games coming up. Because we are going to face this challenge over and over. You know, I will be honest with you, this is painful. We are not going to sleep. This is never acceptable here. It is the worst thing in the world. I’m really grateful for it that it’s happening now because it gives us a chance to try to learn and grow and we need to do that. We can. I’ve got unbelievably competitive guys. I have beautiful guys. And they care, and they are smart. And we will really, really learn and grow from this. In that sense, I couldn’t ask for anything better. You know, in a terribly, awful, painful exhibition game.
Q Mark, it’s kind of obviously what Jayden brings to the table defensively and there is shot blocking and rim protection. Without having Jaland and Denzel. Other than being upperclassman, what are you missing when they are not out there defensively?
MARK POPE: A little bit more of familiarity being at the point of attack. But it’s a great opportunity for our younger guys to grow as Collin Chandlers first start ever. Jasper Johnson was put under real duress tonight which is exactly what he needs. That’s how you grow and get better. You know, I played Otega one more minute than I was supposed to. That’s not good. Kam Williams got a chance to feel the physicality of the game and he’s really going to grow from that and I thought it was good for our back court. I think it’s good for our whole team.
Q Mark, you mentioned Collin getting his first opportunity to start tonight. First off, can you give us an injury update on Denzel and what he’s dealing with and the severity of that? And secondly, what Collin showed you tonight both good and bad on the court.
MARK POPE: D’s got a sore leg and trying to get 100% healthy, we are taking precautions with him. I don’t know where J Lowe is going to be but I’d like to have those guys back in action within the next week or two, I’m hoping. I thought Collin was exactly what you would expect. I thought he battled, I thought he competed and made some mistakes. With Collin Chandler, the interesting thing is he played the most minutes on the team. While playing the most minutes on the team, he was one of the leaders in plus minus in a game where we kinda got run out of our own gym. Even with that, he’s 0 for 5 from 3 and he’s got 5 turnovers. But still, he’s a -7 where we got a lot of -16s, -10s, -9s on the scoresheet. He has a positive impact on the court. He’s going to get way better. This was a first time for him. I think he’s going to be an outstanding player. Their disruptive game plan to us was just an ackey switch with a heavy bottom and zoned up big, and a little bit of a medium zoned up big. But that package is not something we play against ourselves, but we see it all the time in the course of the season. And so that was hard for our whole team to navigate a little bit. I thought Collin was exactly what you saw tonight, both good and bad. He’s going to be a terrific, terrific player.
Q Mark, you talk about your 1996 team all the time and everybody knew how great that team was going to be from the very beginning. In your time as a head coach, how long has it usually taken you to really realize how good your team was going to end up being?
MARK POPE: I don’t think it takes too long. I think this team has a ton of potential. We are not runaway good. We are just team great. We can be team great if we lean into each other and lean into what we do, we have a chance to be great. We are not going to just go dominate people just because our individual talent is overwhelming. And that’s, I actually love coaching this team that way. And like I said, incredibly brutal, you know, unacceptable, disappointing night. But this is, you know, if we do this right which I know our guys will. This is going to progress us forward in a massive way, we just have to respond the right way. We are going to learn so much. Thanks, guys.
KENTUCKY BASKETBALL POSTGAME QUOTES
KENTUCKY VS. GEORGETOWN
RUPP ARENA – LEXINGTON, KY.
OCTOBER 30, 2025
KENTUCKY PLAYERS
#23, Mouhamed Dioubate, F
On the team’s performance and physicality…
“We’ve got to play hard no matter how good we are. On offense, it comes down to playing hard. And they did that better than us today.”
On leadership and team dynamics…
“I try to get everybody going as much as I can. Today, we struggled with guarding ball screens, and they seemed comfortable out there. Obviously, we’re missing J Lo and Denzel today, but that’s not an excuse for the way we played on defense.”
On improving three-point shooting and offense…
“Coach Pope emphasizes the good shots that we should be looking for whenever we get the ball. And I think we just got to keep shooting and just be confident with it.”
On lesson learn from the loss…
“I feel like a loss like this shows us things we’ve got to work on early in the season.”
#00, Otega Oweh, G
On teammates’ reaction after a performance like that..
“We just have to be consistent. We had a great game defensively. So, we just have to continue to be consistent. That starts with practice, the reps that we want to take off, we have to be super key and then just taking the things we do in practice and bring it to the game, I feel like we did a lot of stuff that we did in practice”
On helping the offense get into a flow…
“Yeah, it would have helped a lot. I feel like even our paint touches, we had a lot of paint but we just didn’t play them out. The ball didn’t fall today, but we still could have impacted the game in other ways. Get some stops without transition.”
On learning from a win like Purdue or a loss like Georgetown…
“Thats hard because no one wants to lose, so I say lose. We don’t want to lose but we can definitely learn a whole lot.”
#4, Andrija Jelavic, F
On where he thinks Kentucky fell short at tonight…
“Well, I think that first things first this is not a bad thing for us before the beginning of the season, we need to understand that our team still has a lot of spots that we can operate, and I believe that it will all be good next week and in the future, but tonight it was just…I don’t know what happened, but it was a lack of physicality. It looked like they came more motivated than us early in the game, and I wouldn’t say they beat us but every time we needed to have a breaking point to come back in the game we made a turnover, we made a bad decision, pass out of bounds, but statistically saying we had 14 assists on a 15 turnovers, so you can’t win a game like that.”
On cleaning up the shooting game moving forward for the home opener next week…
“Yeah like I said we were obviously not the best shooters, but I think the shots we were taking tonight were the best shots, tough shots from tough positions and that’s because we didn’t make the best plays for each other and we just had to take wild shots, and we missed, and they had better shots than us and that’s why they made it in, and that’s how this game goes. The simpler you play, the better you look and that’s it.”
On Coach Pope thinking the team needed this game…
“I think so too. I don’t think we got too cocky after the Purdue win, but just in case we need this humble experience and I think it’s good because you know let’s be honest they came here as the underdogs, we were expecting the win, and we lost, and I think that we’ll go to the gym tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day, and just come hungry for the first season game and I think that’s a good thing for us.”
GEORGETOWN HEAD COACH ED COOLEY
Opening Statement…
“First and foremost, what a great opportunity this time of year for Georgetown to come play arguably one of the best programs in the country. We knew it would be a really hard environment. This game came about because I have a relationship, a very deep relationship with someone on your staff, Mark Fox, who worked for me for a year. I’ve known him for 30 years. I think he’s an incredible coach, person, and personal friend, and that’s how this came about. I said, Mark, I want to try to challenge my team. Going into year three, we’re doing everything we can to try to bring Georgetown back to become a tournament-worthy team. So, we went to Canada this summer, challenged our guys, and we played five really hard games. Lost in the gold medal game to Brazil. We didn’t have three of our players, but we played the guys we had. Then, we went to George Washington, which Georgetown hadn’t played in GW in almost 50 years, to try to prepare us to come here. I thought our team really responded to the physicality, to the athleticism, length, and this group that we’re coaching, that we’re blessed to coach, just has an incredible fight and an incredible will, and hopefully this can give us a little bit of confidence as we get into our non-conference, and help prepare us for incredible Big East play. I love this Kentucky team. They’re fast in transition, they can really shoot the ball obviously, when Lowe and JQ get back, I think they have a different identity. I thought our ball pressure really bothered them, and I thought the physicality of the game played into what I call Big East basketball.”
GEORGETOWN PLAYERS
#2, Malik Mack, G
On the game plan coming into it…
“For me, it was something that I had seen throughout the game, when I had the lane, I feel like I could take I feel like I’m quick enough to get to the basket. It wasn’t something I planned on doing going into the game, but just opportunities I saw what the defense was given.”
#5, KJ Lewis, G
On the game plan coming into it…
“Just like Malik said, it was just in the flow of the game. I think we do a great job as a team in preparing with our strength and conditioning. Shout out to Coach White, and I think, just as a team, it was just flowing naturally and flowing the game.”
