Pope Believes 'Length is Our Strength'
Kentucky head coach Mark Pope spoke to the UK basketball media corps on Monday. He covered a variety of topics during the 20-minute session, including how he went about building the 2026-27 Kentucky roster.
“We had to start from some really basic points,” Pope said. “We knew that we needed creators on the floor to play the way that we love to play.”
Pope noted that, as far as creators, his team is doing very well.
“I think we have answered that well and I think our guys have grown since they’ve been here in that capacity,” Pope said. “We have it all positions.”
The UK head coach also likes his team’s size, or length, and he believes that can be a factor for the Cats this season.
“I think our length is going to have to be a big factor,” Pope said. “You will hear me say this all year long. We say this to the team every day. Length is our strength. So, the question is, can we use it? Can we make it something that we see having an impact on every single possession.”
Physicality is also something that Pope has with this year’s Cats. And it starts with the big men inside.
“Justin McBride is going to be a huge piece of that,” Pope said. “Obviously, Franck Kepnang, I don’t know if you get more aggressive and physical than him. He’s a big body. Malachi Moreno is playing with huge physicality right now.”
Pope also pointed out that the physicality on this team will not just come from the front court. This team has physical guards as well.
“We have some real physicality in the back court,” Pope said. “Zoom (Diallo) is a really, really physical player. Mason Williams is a physical player. So, we’re getting physicality from all different spaces.”
Last season, the Cats struggled to make shots at times. That does not appear to be an issue for this year’s team.
“We think that our shooting is going to be elite,” Pope said. “We think that we shoot it really, really well and we have a depth of shooters, that’s important for us.”
With one week of fall practice under his belt, Pope was asked what he was most excited about with this team.
“The thing I’ve been most excited about is our cutting,” Pope said. “That’s a major part of what we do and our guys have bought into cutting hard. There’s so much movement on the floor for us right now. It’s pretty exciting.”
Basketball season is just around the corner, and it appears that the 2026-27 Cats will have plenty of length, physicality and shooting, which could be a dangerous combination.
