As Summer Practice Nears End, Pope 'Excited' About Cats
Kentucky head coach Mark Pope met the media on Friday morning to talk about his 2026-27 team and summer practice. The UK head man is pleased with how his Cats are progressing during the summer period.
“We couldn’t be more excited. (It’s been) an incredibly enjoyable experience coaching this group,” Pope said. “We just finished week six of summer. The guys are growing together. They’re starting to understand what we’re trying to accomplish and they’re making terrific strides.”
Pope admits that he and his staff have been hard on the team this summer, but he also likes the results he is seeing.
“Our guys are understanding this concept of embracing hard things, that their limits are a lot farther than they imagined,” he said. “And we’re seeing great stuff out there.”
Pope likes how the pieces on the UK roster compliment one another, something he believes can be a strength for this year’s team.
“I love our roster right now. I like the way the pieces fit. I like the versatility of our guys,” Pope said. “I think we have depth because we have versatility. We’ve already seen that this summer as we’ve had some guys that have had to miss some time. I think we can function at a really high level.”
Pope’s teams are known to be very strong on the offensive end of the floor. The UK coach was asked how this year’s team is looking defensively.
“We were a good defensive team last year. We were a top 30 defensive team,” Pope said. “This team doesn’t have the known commodity like an Otega Oweh or a Mo Dioubate that were known as elite level defensive players. What we do have is a bunch of high IQ guys with a ton of length. We’ll say this all year long, length is our strength. I think we have a chance to be disruptive with our length.”
Pope’s first two Kentucky teams have dealt with injuries at the point guard position. Two seasons ago, Lamont Butler missed time due to injury. Then last year, Jaland Lowe missed nearly the entire season due to injury. How is Pope feeling about his point guards this season?
“I’ve got a lot of lead guards,” Pope said. “They’re good. They’re really good and it’s been fun to watch them.”
He singled out each of the three lead/point guards individually, praising each one in the process.
“Zoom Diallo is a special individual,” Pope said. “Zoom was really under the weather yesterday. He did not feel good, wasn’t sure if he was going to practice. Not only did he practice yesterday, but I walked in the office at like 6:15 this morning, really wondering about who this kid is. I walked into my office and the lights in the gym are on and he’s in a full sweat at 6:15 on his own, the day after being really under the weather, just because he’s dedicated to this deal. When you have a lead guard like that, you get pretty excited.”
Pope also had high praise for sophomore transfer Alex Wilkins.
“I think his ceiling is really high,” Pope said. “He’s showing signs of actually being able to do some special things. He’s pretty fearless. He wants it. He wants the challenge. He wants to go run into the fire and see what he’s made of and test himself and see how he can grow.”
The UK head coach also believes that freshman Mason Williams can be a contributor.
“Mason Williams is much better than people give him credit for,” Pope said. “He’s got a chance to be special.”
Pope has pushed his team this summer and he likes where the Cats are as the summer session nears an end.
