Kentucky-James Madison Postgame Quotes
UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY MEN’S BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE
November 6, 2026
Lexington, Kentucky, USA
Coach Mark Pope
Press Conference
Kentucky – 89, James Madison – 80
MARK POPE: You know, listen, Preston does an unbelievable job. He is a great coach. We talked about this in the pregame media. He’s a terrific coach. He builds really good teams. He’s just a better person. He’s like one of the great people in this coaching profession. He’s also a Kentucky guy. So, it’s so special to have him in the gym. I thought his guys performed great. And that’s how they play, that’s what they do. We knew coming in was going to be an incredible challenge for us because they play so different. They ended up winning the match up game where we had to go small and play the way we haven’t played yet this season and that’s a real credit to them. I thought they were terrific. We had some outstanding performances. Headlined by Zoom. I will talk about Zoom for a second. This young man, as we talked about, is really special in the sense of like, he just loves this team and this locker room and is doing whatever he can to bring guys together and lift guys up every single day. It was super cool, you know, we win in large part, we are a better team when our fan base is elite and our fan base decided to show up for Zoom a couple of days ago, and that’s why we win. Our fan base has power to actually help us win. And that’s a great example. You know, Zoom is feeling engaged with our fan base. And that’s a really powerful thing. I never want our fan base to lose the insight; they have so much power to affect winning and losing. And when they are rallying behind our guys when they are having a tough time. When they are lifting them up when they are having a tough time. It makes a difference, man. We have the most powerful fan base in all the world. They can make an incredible difference, and Zoom Diallo is a great example. So, kudos to our fan base for being so great and so responsive in that way. I was proud of our staff today. We’ve had line-ups out there that we’ve never played with. The guys had never played that way before. And the staff kept making adjustments and the guys responded to figure it out. We had some great performances that I’m sure we will talk about. I will take questions.
Q Talking about Zoom’s performance. What do you think was working well for him tonight that maybe he was lacking in some of his prior performance early on in the season?
MARK POPE: I thought he was really controlled. I thought he was really disciplined. It was a zero turnover night, which is a huge thing for him. He was really forceful downhill. Dropping his shoulder, getting downhill. We worked on KDA’s keeping your dribble alive every single day. Work on driving lines every single day. Our biggs were doing a nice job screening for him. He was making great decisions at the rim, with exception of one shot I thought he had elite level decision-making. That’s who he is. We are going to see more and more of him. But I thought he had a great night.
Q Obviously, a special game for Justin McBride going into his former school. He looked like he was on fire tonight. Hit a couple of big triples. Did you feel an extra edge out of him tonight and what does he bring to this team?
MARK POPE: It is a special game because he loves coach Spradlin so much, they have a beautiful relationship. And because he had such a great experience at James Madison. And also, he’s taken on the challenge of coming here. All of those come into play. I thought he was terrific tonight. In the summer, we got to a point late in the summer, early in the fall, where I was having the staff, in fact, we were sitting in one staff meeting and I am like, okay, we’ve got 15 people around the table. Everybody right now, while Justin is in class, text him at the same time, rebound with three exclamation marks. And from that moment on, it was like everyday, hey, this is a place where he has to build his game and grow his game for us to be the team that we want to be. Our whole team needs him to rebound. We’ve talked about that every day for the last three months. And he comes up tonight and grabs 8 huge rebounds playing the 5 a lot of minutes. He shot the ball well and he was really aggressive. I thought he was terrific tonight.
Q Talk about your bench again tonight. They came through and they really played well. What’s it mean in a game when Milan didn’t have double figures but two players came off the bench and picked up the slack?
MARK POPE: You know, our bench is going to be a massively important part of this. It was really great to get Kam back in for a few minutes. We kinda were just reading the game to see how it worked out. This was a nice game to push him in for two reasons. One because match ups kind of required that of our rotation. And then two, because it was a really competitive game. So, he got to walk in and play minutes that really mattered. It’s the first time since last March that he’s really been able to play in any type of competitive environment. I thought he was terrific. And our bench continues to be a strength for us. You know, we went to the bench different tonight. Franck was limited minutes, Reece didn’t play any minutes. Malachi played less than his normal minutes. We had to kinda rework lineups and the guys did a nice job with it.
Q Kind of talked about it already but Zoom, Alex, and Mason your main ball handlers, all zero turnover tonight. How have you seen them improve because it kind of seems throughout these games they just keep on getting better and better?
MARK POPE: Two games ago they had 9 turnovers between them. And this JMU team, they will get up to the line and try to pressure. They are not a sit back and kind of let you make plays team. They have some aggressive on the defensive end. So they made a challenge and I’m really proud of our guys. You think about it, Mason Williams. We talked about this a month ago. He had to keep getting better because we need him. And tonight, for him to be 5-0. And then essentially for the last 11 minutes, we just went to a straight highball screen package. We didn’t do anything unique or original. We just kinda found a place where we had comfort in and went to work. Those guys traded off and did a terrific job. For those three guys to be 0 turnovers, for us to be 8 as a team, anytime are under 10 we feel pretty good.
Q Coach, Milan went 1 for 8 from the 3 point line tonight. But you said last game he’s like the sun, defenders just drawn to him. What was he doing out there tonight when you were running those lineups, you kept him in and kept running through him at times. What’s he doing even when he’s not making shots? I know that’s unusual for him, but what’s he doing when he’s not making shots?
MARK POPE: I think it was our first play call coming out of the half. We just ran a wide Freddie get for Milan. That’s when Malachi got the dunk rolling straight down the lane because his defender is so out of position that he can’t help where you normally expect help. He affects the game that way in so many different ways. And he makes shots or misses shots. The rare times where he misses a shot. He still has a big impact.
Q Mark, when you have such a new team and such a young team, sometimes it takes a little while for the trust factor to fit in. Not only between teammates, but also with coaches. When you have a team that is so eager to learn, how quickly is success transferred over into an acceleration of a trust factor?
MARK POPE: I think successes can be a great teacher if you treat it right. We will continue to be a process-based group. That’s a winning formula. Sometimes the outcomes are a little bit out of our control. You know, this was a really competitive game. And we made so many rotations, they really did a great job exposing our first pass rotations. Our Sammy rotations. They did a great job attacking our first gap guys, like we were dying in gap over and over again. There were lots of frustrating things. But you like our guys competitive spirit. And they found a way to overcome our own mistakes. And I think that builds trust with everybody. It is just a processes. These seasons are a journey. We will have setbacks and we will have great successes. This team has a chance to keep growing into something that I think could be really special. I think we have a chance to be good.
Q You guys knew they were going to take a ton of 3s. Just what did you guys think of the guys attention to detail there, especially early on? What can maybe they learn from a game like this and a team like that?
MARK POPE: We was poor. We did not shine in that aspect of the game. They do a nice job. They just drill you with flare screens over and over and over again. If we get a chance to play them again, we might change some of our scouting principles. You know, you fight so hard to grow an identity as a team where you follow certain rules. The way JMU plays, they just are challenging you to throw all of those basic principles out and guard a way that makes more sense guarding their team. So, we went there halfway. And I think our guys adjusted throughout the game and ultimately were able to do enough to win.
Q Mark, two-parter, when you beat Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse when you were at BYU, where does that rank on your coaching thrill meter? What in your opinion has allowed Bill Self to achieve what he’s achieved?
MARK POPE: Allen Fieldhouse is one of the iconic arenas in the world. The unique feel for me was they somehow squeezed 16,000 people into an arena that should hold 4000. It’s magical, it really is. It’s a special place and it’s a birthplace of basketball in some ways. You got James Naismith rules right there on the wall. It’s an iconic place. And Bill has been an incredible leader there. I think for these great coaches, one of the things is you notice with him is he’s been able to evolve and reinvent himself over and over and over again as the game and the situation and the sways and, you know, his experience of change. He’s been able to reinvent himself. He’s done it really successfully and continues to do that as well. That’s why he’s one of the great coaches.
Q Mark, you had Kam Williams in limited minutes tonight. As you go into the Kansas game, just what does his presence, his return to this team bring and make you guys more dangerous?
MARK POPE: I was on a 12 minute limit with Kam. We got 9 out of him. I think the most important thing was for him to just dip his toe into a competitive environment. I think that’s really important. You know, Kam makes some really hard things look easy, which we really got to take advantage of tonight. Guys, this game is hard, it’s hard to be out for, we are looking at seven months. It’s hard to be out not in a competitive environment for seven months playing with, really essentially, a completely new team. And learn the connected part of it. I thought he was terrific tonight and he really helped us tonight and he will help us more in Kansas and he is going to continue to put his fingerprints on this team.
Q You’ve mentioned this is a young team and they are learning and growing. What do you want to see from them in Chicago at a neutral site playing a team like Kansas?
MARK POPE: We are going to go compete. This group loves to compete. And they love to do it together. One of the fun things. Sometimes you are in a game like this and you have to, you know, because they won the match up war with us. We had guys that traditionally played, that are playing different rotations. You never felt for one second like anybody on the court or on the bench was distracted. Everybody was fully in, everybody was ready to run on the court and make a contribution when their name was called. We will expect the same thing against Kansas in a few days and throughout the season. If we do that, it gives us a chance to keep getting better. Like we’ve talked about, this is a race for this young group to keep growing through the wins and the struggles, to keep growing. And we have a chance, I’m telling you, the makeup of this team we have a chance to be good when it really, really matters.
Q Moving forward, Zoom obviously didn’t play the last 14. After he got hit on the head, is he okay there? Also, this game and the previous exhibitions. The whole point to this point in the season. Mason getting these crunch time minutes. What does that mean for his development?
MARK POPE: Every minute Mason gets it just accelerates his development. We’ve talked about this since the beginning. He’s got a college ready body. He’s got a college ready skill set. It’s just learning what that looks like and feels like. He’s not always going to have to close out games for us. But these experiences where he gets to be on the court to close out games or is just like this awesome education for him to take in more data and understand why and what and where and how and all the little details. And listen, Zoom was so good tonight. He’s healthy, he’ll be fine, he’s going to continue to play big minutes for us. Thanks, guys.
KENTUCKY BASKETBALL POSTGAME QUOTES
KENTUCKY VS. JMU
RUPP ARENA – LEXINGTON, KY.
NOVEMBER 6, 2026
Zoom Diallo
On adjusting to a new team…
“Going into the portal, I kind of knew that I was going to have to adjust and go to a new atmosphere, but I chose this university for a reason, it’s a little bit of an adjustment.”
On the win against JMU…
“Today was definitely a confidence booster. I’ve always had confidence in myself. I think that’s the reason why I came to Kentucky. So, I just have to keep pushing day by day when there’s ups and downs.”
On how he instills confidence in his team …
“We have the best arena in college basketball, over 20,000 and we need to use that to our advantage. Just seeing how BBN cares about their players, I want the atmosphere to be when a team comes into Rupp Arena, that this is probably one of the most difficult places they play. It’s just my job to install confidence in not only our players, but into our fanbase.”
Justin McBride
On areas of his game that have improved since last year…
“I’m more intense on defense. So that’s what I’m focused on right now, the shots are coming in.”
On what Coach Pope is working with him to improve on …
“Just stay poised, stay patient, it’s been really good there and stuff like that. We just take breaks and always have conversations with them every day before practices.”
On confidence in tonight’s game…
“I wanted to go out there. I feel like playing, you always got to be confident with this, just get some shots up.”
JMU Head Coach Preston Spradlin
Opening Statement …
“Man, fun basketball game. I’m really proud of our guys. I thought we executed our game plan and had our opportunities. And you know when you play these games, I’ve done a bunch of them. You just hope your team can stay together, and I thought our guys did that. We had a lot of opportunities, especially in this building against a long athletic Kentucky team to break apart and do our own thing, and then that’s when big runs happen. But I think we really did that. I thought we did a good job, and so proud of our guys for the fight and the execution that they had and togetherness and the message to them in the locker room was we’ll earn another opportunity against a Kentucky-type team down the road in the next four months if we continue to have the this type of progression that we’ve had in the last eight days.”
On the team’s success in the first 30 minutes of the game …
“We have really good guards that make me look like a really good coach, and they had great ball security. But I thought, coming from our Miami Ohio game, that our spacing was really bad. We didn’t have what we call good corner discipline. We didn’t finish our cuts. We didn’t second cut out to the perimeter, and we needed to be able to stretch Kentucky out because we’re not going to win that size and length and athleticism battle. And so, if you’re not really disciplined with your spacing and making quick decisions and trying to punch the gap, then their length is really impactful and they generate turnovers. And so I thought we did a good job of that. That was a big part of our game plan.”
On Justin McBride …
“Man, I wish he had made more 3s playing for me like he did tonight. I’m so proud of him. I thought he played really well. I thought defensively he really challenged himself. That was something that we spent a lot of time working on with him, and I think he’s answered that call, being able to you know communicate and stay in front of the ball, and I thought he did a nice job of that tonight. He’s proven that he can be on the court with other really good players and play within the system that Mark’s put in place. That’s not an easy thing to do for a guy that comes from a team where he gets to shoot a lot of balls and he has an incredibly high usage rate and gets a lot of play calls for him, so I thought he’s doing a great job with that, and I’m happy for him.”
On being back in Rupp Arena …
“It was great. I love this place, I was a part of three of those banners that are up there, so it was really special for me. And just seeing a lot of people, this is an incredible place. You know the athletics department, the university, and so seeing so many familiar faces is really special. And it’s nice to be in a different role. I was like the lowest guy on the totem pole when I was here before. So it’s nice to you know get to stand up during the game and walk the sideline and actually call a timeout instead of seeing somebody else do it. So, it’s pretty special.”
