Kentucky-Florida Postgame Quotes
UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY MEN’S BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE
March 7, 2026
Lexington, Kentucky, USA
Coach Mark Pope
Press Conference
Kentucky – 77, Florida – 84
Q Mark, the two early runs by Florida there, the 11-0 to start it off and then the 13–0 after you guys almost tied it. Just what did you see in those two sequences from them?
MARK POPE: We have done that sometimes to start games where we’ve been a little bit sticky and a little paralyzed. They went to the post two straight possessions. Their bigs really want to attack, come back to the baseline. We did a poor job on both those defensive possessions. You know, we just didn’t have any pace on the offensive end, so that was the start of the game. The run later in the half was really tough for us. We are just trying to figure out how to manage this, you know, we make poor decisions when we are tired on the floor. We just do, we make poor decisions when we are tired on the floor. We just do. We make poor decisions when we are tired out on the floor. We are trying to find out how to ameliorate that and fix it and that’s been a problem for us the last couple of games. We will perform better than that. That was really disappointing, it was just really disappointing for us. We give up 18, 19 points in the first half in transition. Which is really two things you have to do with Florida. You have to rebound the ball. You have to guard in transition. We did a poor job with that. A lot of that, part of it was turnovers. Even though the turnover number in the first half wasn’t crazy. It was six. Part of it was just poor shot selection at the rim, which is what they do. As much as we tried to communicate that and teach that to our team, I did a poor job getting that messaging across because we continued to do it. That was part of it, also, we put ourselves in harms way during that run just by poor offensive decision-making and some turnovers.
Q Mark, you are now at tournament time. What is the one thing you are really focused on? What is the one thing that has to get fixed?
MARK POPE: For us, when we guard, we are actually pretty good. When we guard, we’re good. And all facets of that has to be great for us. Tonight, we had massive first-half transition breakdown. And that’s tough, you know, for a number of reasons. We are in a top wedge check one, two, three. And still, we didn’t do what we set out to do. When we guard, we are in every game. So, it’s really important for us.
Q Mark, fans can look at the SEC and say, well five wins five days, how do you approach the mindset with your guys heading into a situation like that?
MARK POPE: The great thing about the tournament is it’s one game. There is only one game. It’s one game. We will talk about one game. That’s all it is postseason, it’s just one game. So we are going to prepare for one game on Wednesday and we are going to put our whole heart and soul into it and that’s the only thing that matters to us and that’s the beauty of the postseason.
Q Coach, big picture. How do you think the team has handled the attention and expectations of the season?
MARK POPE: I think it’s still a work in progress. Ask me when it’s over.
Q Mark, you’ve talked about needing these guys to step up, especially some of the role players. With the shortened roster and quick turnarounds. Now that the games are going to kind of be back to back to back. Jasper tonight had a stretch there where he turned it over and then the intentional foul. How do you use those moments as a learning moment when you are going to have to play so many games back to back in short turnarounds because they’ll have to play minutes?
MARK POPE: I have a lot of faith in our guys. I’ve got faith in Jasper, and Trent, and Mo, and BG. They are going to help us. They are going to play well. You know, they’ve had stretches where they played well. They are going to have big minutes as we get into the post season. I have so much confidence in that.
Q Mark, they hold Collin to just two points tonight. Todd said that their big point of emphasis was to just make sure that he didn’t get off threes. Does he have to be more of a three level scorer for you guys now that you guys have reached this time?
MARK POPE: Yeah, I thought we did a poor job, you know, in the stretches in the first half. I just felt like we didn’t initiate offense well at all. I was surprised, it’s actually been a strength of ours is kind of getting into early offense, and I thought we were poor in that. That’s space where it allows us to kind of without doing a play call, allow Collin to run in some space. I thought we did a poor job helping him as a team. But yeah, he’s a major focus. He’s the best 3-point shooter in the league. So, he’s always going to be a huge focus. Thanks, guys.
KENTUCKY BASKETBALL POSTGAME QUOTES
KENTUCKY VS. FLORIDA
RUPP ARENA – LEXINGTON, KY.
MARCH 7, 2025
KENTUCKY PLAYERS
#4, Andrija Jelavic, F
On key takeaways from the game heading into the SEC tournament…
“You could see the, in these 40 minutes, the worst versions of us, to the best versions of us. Especially on the second half we showed what we could be, we showed our potential, and we just need to extend that for more minutes, not 10 or 15 that we were today, but like, 30, 35 or the whole game, and we’re not worried about the tournament right now. It’s the same thing. It’s just the next game, and we’re at least me and the team, we’re going confident in the tournament. We saw the full range of this team tonight.”
On what the team does when they are playing their best…
“When we’re playing for each other, offensively, when we play for each other, when we make the extra pass, the extra move, we always get wide open, shoot three, layups, and that’s just what makes us dangerous. And defensively, I feel like we were physically defensively good, but they were hitting some shots in the 1st half, but defensively, you just need to have will and physicality, and that’s it.
On one thing you feel like the team needs to tighten up…
“I mean, definitely those, like, three, four-minute leaks we have in our game. We play, like, we make three steps ahead, and we played well for seven minutes, but then we just, like, play two minutes bad, and that’s just, you can win games, especially against the teams that are as good as Florida. You need to play every minute of the game well to beat them, and it’s just we cut the depth to, like, 10, and then, two, I don’t know, either an offense or defense, it’s just, it’s a step back and they, they go to, again, to 15, make 50 series in like a minute, and that’s, that’s what you need to do.”
#10, Brandon Garrison, F
On the big runs in the first half…
“I just feel like they threw the first punch out there, and I feel like we didn’t respond, in the first media I feel like they went out there and played like they were trying to go get something and we started off very slow.”
On the confidence level going into the tournament coming off a tough week…
“Yeah, coach told us we’re going to digest this film tomorrow and then, its post season so its every game matters from here on out so we’ll practice tomorrow again and see what we have to play and hit on it.”
On what the team needs to tighten up going into the tournament…
“I’ll say just playing together more, looking for each other more, not so many selfish plays, because I feel like that hurts us, but we play segments where it’s like, we play good for four minutes and then we go back to selfishness. So, I feel like if we fix that, which I think we can, I think we’ll be in a good spot.”
On the challenge of winning five games in five days and if it’s exciting…
“Yeah, for sure. We all love playing basketball, so I wouldn’t say that’s an excuse, but we put ourselves in that position, so we can’t make that excuse, but we love hooping, so it’ll be a fun ride.”
#23, Mouhamed Dioubate, F
On how confident they are of a tournament run…
“I think we have been in this position before. I believe in our team to do great. Although, we had a lot of losses, I still believe we can be great.”
On what the difference is between the team when they win or lose…
“When we win, we have bad starts and then start to gain at some point in the game. When we lose, there is a disconnect in the team. We just got to do a better job.”
On struggling to find consistency…
“I feel like we let up a lot of times. When we have certain needs, we have been taking our foot off the gas.”
FLORIDA HEAD COACH TODD GOLDEN
Opening statement…
“Incredibly proud of my team. You know, obviously a tough place to play. Thought we did a great job getting off to a great start. The first half, we played about as well as you could hope, coming into a place like this. And, in the second half ‘s last 10 minutes, I didn’t think we handled their pressure very well. We didn’t make enough winning plays in the last 10 minutes. It allowed them to have some hope in the last five minutes or so. But, we did a good enough job making free throws. Did a good enough job taking care of the basketball and then forcing the misses down the stretch. But it was a great win for us. Finished 8-1 on the road in conference play this year, 16-2 in the league, and just really proud of the way our guys have performed all year.”
On how Tommy set the tone for the team…
“He got off to a great start. I thought he did a great job picking his spots. When he was at the three, he was able to get downhill and get to the rim and finish. We were able to take advantage of the ball screen coverage when he was at the four and being guarded by some bigger guys, and that allowed him to get some open threes. He drove close out’s well and made big decisions in the paint. We did a bad job on Otega. First half, let him get some threes, but Tommy’s ability to get 17 kind of counteracted that. He slowed down a little bit late, but overall, he had a fantastic game, and obviously, we’re a much better team when he’s out there.”
On how they utilized fast breaks and getting out in transition…
“I thought when we got off to a great start, they started playing with a little more tension and a little more physicality, and started crashing more into the offensive glass, which allowed us to get run outs on clean rebounds. I thought our bigs did a really good job fighting their crashes and getting the ball out to the guards quick, and they weren’t able to get back and organize the transition. So, I think that was the main thing that allowed us to get out there and obviously get that advantage in the fast break game today.”
On how they limited Chandler and Aberdeen…
“I thought Xavien did a wonderful job on Collin in the first half. He got us at our pace a little bit, made five threes, and kind of kept us in the game. That was a key part of our game plan today, was limiting his three-point attempts, which I thought Xavien did a great job from start to finish. And then with Zel, we know his game pretty well. We know where he wants to go and what spots he wants to get to. And obviously a very good player, but I thought we did a really good job bothering and making him uncomfortable, and he got some late but not super-efficient today.”
