STATE FARM CHAMPIONS CLASSIC: KENTUCKY VS MICHIGAN STATE

November 10, 2026

Mark Pope

Kentucky Wildcats

Press Conference

Kansas 89, Kentucky 69

MARK POPE: It was an incredibly frustrating night for us. A lot of credit goes to Kansas. I thought they played great tonight. They made shots that cut hard. They played in transition. They really shared the ball.

We found some frustration early in the game that was really disruptive to us and we never quite recovered from it. It's an unbelievable learning experience for our guys as a young group, and they'll respond the right way and we'll get better and put together a great season.

Q. How concerning was the lack of discipline really on both sides of the ball, and how do you correct that moving forward?

MARK POPE: For us, I thought our response was disjointed. As soon as -- you know, in the first three and a half minutes, four minutes we lost our whole front court, and that was problematic for us.

We didn't respond to that very well, both from a coaching staff perspective and from a player perspective, and then it just seemed like distraction after distraction after that. That's what happens when you have games, and that's where we are.

This is a great group. This is a group that can really, really learn. It's a group that we'll look internally and we'll get better, but we did not manage some difficult circumstances early in the game.

Q. Milan, seven shots, three treys. What's it going to take to get him some looks?

MARK POPE: You know, that comes from a lot of different places. From a coaching perspective, we've got to be more creative and find ways to get him plays. We work so much through our front line, and Malachi being in and out was complicated for us, but we'll find ways to work around that. Give a lot of credit to Kansas' scheme, how they approached the game defensively. Their switching was problematic and bothersome for us, and they did a nice job on him.

Our guys being more aware and finding ways to build opportunities for him is important. I can give you specific examples on that.

That's going to be a complete team effort, and it's going to be partly Milan's responsibility too, and that's how the game works.

Q. 22-0 for them in points off turnovers. What from your perspective was happening with turnovers? Was there anything consistently happening?

MARK POPE: Sometimes in the game you're rushed to your detriment, so they're in a drop ball screen defense with their 5s. They're switching everything, but they're in a drop ball defense with their 5s. It's something we've seen, practiced against, we've done all the time, and this is a great example of our guards being so sped up to get downhill that they weren't getting driving lanes. We never got a single Gortat possession, nothing -- just one of many examples of being a little sped up.

The turnovers was massive for us; 13 assists, 15 turnovers. Credit Kansas for that. We've been a little -- we're still searching in that space. My backcourt a game ago was perfect in ball possession; my three lead guards had zero turnovers. That was not the case tonight.

Q. Sometimes a performance in itself can provide a message more than coach's words. What's the message that you hope the team takes away from this performance?

MARK POPE: We're going to learn so much. If I was going to give one it would be about finishing possessions. Finishing possessions. Finishing possessions. We had -- especially in the first half there were spaces where we had some really positive defensive possessions, and we just couldn't get out of the possession. We couldn't get out of it.

We had great verticality, like a double verticality at the rim and we couldn't come up with a rebound. We'd grab a rebound and it's slapped out of our hands or we actually end the possession and start an offensive possession and turn it over right away.

So this idea of finishing possessions is one of many things that we'll take from this game. We have the potential to do it. Like this group, we have the potential to do it. We've got to grow a lot and we will. We have a bunch of guys with high ceilings that underperformed tonight, and we'll get there.

Q. Seemed like Zoom was really trying to will you guys back into this game and was doing as much as he could. Friday he talked about how his confidence was growing. Just what did you see from him in this one?

MARK POPE: I thought Zoom competed really, really well. He made some positive plays for us that I'm excited about. Our lead guard crew, for them to be essentially around a zero as a group in the assist category is a massive problem for us. It's not the way we play.

But there are a lot of reasons. Partly credit Kansas. Partly it's me and schematics and play calling. We haven't quite gotten to the place where we can manage that yet and partly it's on our players to do better there.

But Zoom showed some really positive signs. I do think his confidence is growing and he made some positive plays.

Q. Last year the Champions Classic after you lost to Michigan State you said things like your message wasn't resonating. You seem a lot more optimistic about the way your team is going to respond to this loss. What gives you that positivity?

MARK POPE: This is a learning group. This is a brutal lesson. This is brutal. There's nothing worse, right? It's a brutal lesson. But this is a learning group. I thought that from the first day I had them. This is a group that will look internally, and they'll learn and get better.

It's also I have a staff that's good that they'll look internally and get better. Listen, there was zero part of me that thought we were going to skate through the season without taking a couple hits.

We took a massive really disappointing not-living-up-to-our-standard hit tonight, but this is a group that's going to learn and respond. There will be some toughness. They come and compete every day in practice, and it'll be a bloody practice tomorrow and Thursday and we'll play Friday, and that's actually the beauty of the season and that's where we are.

We're going to keep learning and growing, and I like this group for it, man. I'm telling you, I'm betting on this group.

Q. How do you keep a loss like this from causing overreactions, even among game planning from your staff, like just trying to make sure it doesn't snowball? I felt like maybe last year at this time against Michigan State after that loss it may have led to some other losses that you guys had last year. How do you kind of --

MARK POPE: Well, I don't think it's possible to overreact to this loss. This is a tough loss for us. We did not play well. We did not play up to our standard. We did not deal with disruption well. So on that front, this is a full-on reaction, and get better.

But we'll stay focused on being constructive. Like I said, this is a learning, growing group. It's a group that actually -- there's some confidence that comes from the fact that you believe you can get better, and our guys believe they can get better. They believe they can grow.

So that's what we've got, and we're going to have to get a lot better. We will.

Q. You used a lot of different rotations, especially in that first half. At this point in the season what goes into evaluating what might work, especially from a game-by-game basis?

MARK POPE: Well, I didn't want any of those rotations, but the game kind of demanded it. I had Mally and Ous sitting on the bench with two fouls three minutes into the game and it makes it really complicated.

But as we grow we'll be able to sustain our effort through super, super strange events in a game. We're just not there yet. We weren't there yet against a terrific opponent in Kansas. We'll get there. We're just not there quite yet.