Mark Pope and his daughter, Shay, met with the media following Kentucky’s 107-59 win over Valparaiso last night.
“I’m proud of our guys, it’s a good Valpo team, they are going to win games this year. Coach Powell does a nice job. I’ve known him for a long time. He runs good stuff and he’s got great pace and he’s got physical players,” Pope said during his opening statement. “I thought our guys came out with tremendous energy from the get-go. I felt like they function pretty well. We are making progress.”
Shay felt like Kentucky’s win was a solid 10 out of 10.
“I think my dad did a really good job. We won, so. I’d say that’s a 10 out of 10,” Shay said when asked to give her thoughts on the win.
Check out their postgame comments:
Here’s a transcript from UK Athletics:
MARK POPE: I am sorry that we are late. Sorry that we kept you waiting. It is not my fault. The Pope girls, it’s hard, like we walk through people and it’s like, I can’t. That’s why Shay is up here. She will take all of your questions. I’m proud of our guys, it’s a good Valpo team, they are going to win games this year. Coach Powell does a nice job. I’ve known him for a long time. He runs good stuff and he’s got great pace and he’s got physical players. I thought our guys came out with tremendous energy from the get-go. I felt like they function pretty well. We are making progress. We’ve got a long way to go and we got to get way, way better. It was a good night for us and proud of what we did.
Q Mark, how pleased were you with not only the making the first 6 shots of the game but it seemed like they really kept the focus defensively at the other end too and really made it hard to set the tone early on both sides?
MARK POPE: We are trying to live on the defensive end. It’s hard to guard, it’s really challenging. This team really challenges you because of their pace, just the continuous movement. And they do a nice job. I thought we were, we knew we were going to be really challenged without gap defense and we talked about this. We were really poor in the exhibition game against Georgetown. And we had great movement off the ball. We were much better with our gap integrity and all of our gap concepts against Nicholls, but they were more stationary and more just spaced and that’s what makes it easier and with Valpo, they really challenge you with the ton of movement. I thought our guys did better. I thought our bottoms were solid for a lot of game. I thought BG, in particular, they really count on their duck game to take you out of rotation. I thought BG managed it incredibly well. He didn’t get sealed. He danced with his feet the whole time. He was able to release and get to the bottom when he needed to. He was active in the monster. He was an example of the guys doing pretty well there. I was really proud of the guys defensive effort. We had some lapses. Which I would like us to keep this standard every single possession for the rest of our lives. And that is our goal. But I was proud of the effort.
Q Mark, obviously tremendous performance from Malachi tonight with 18 and 10. First off, what makes him such an effective rebounder, he obviously has the size but there’s so many other intangibles that go into that from your vantage point, and secondly, just his progression as a freshman 2 games in having a double double seemingly matching up well against guys much more veteran and older than him. Just what goes into that from his perspective.
MARK POPE: I was really proud of him today. As a freshman, just in his second game. There’s so much going on, like there’s so much of life also. Just all the things. Like all of our guys, he’s dealing with a thousand different distractions. But he was able to come on the floor tonight and really focus. He’s got a physicality that might be surprising. I think when you look at him, you expect he’s going to feel a certain way when you actually make contact with him. But I think he’s way stronger and I think he’s doing an unbelievable job rebounding out of his area and he’s determined. You know, he’s using one of our best percentage hit and go get and wedge guys and it’s his consistent effort I think that’s really really functional for him on the glass. He’s been our best rebounder on both sides of the ball pretty consistently from the get go. He’s taking that challenge really seriously and it’s fun to watch him grow. He’s young, he’s going to have ups and downs. His ceiling is really really high and he had a huge impact. I will tell you what I was most proud of, when he did get the ball on the post, he had a tendency to attack baseline, attack baseline, he was really disciplined tonight about attacking middle. He was really patient with the bounce, like he was squeezing extra dribbles, really just kind of working to get to his spot and got a couple of shots blocked and then in the second half, went to the rip through, the step through, which is just like exactly how you respond when people who are overplaying your left shoulder. I thought the way he calculated the game was really good. So I’m proud of him. Probably the most important thing, he’s a 3 assist 0 turnover guy for a freshman big and had a ton of usage tonight and I don’t think you seen that very often.
Q Mark, you had 10 guys between 15, 24 minutes. Similar to the Purdue game when you talked about spreading the minutes, spreading the points like your 96 team, if they could be that selfless. I’m just curious, what can you do to ensure that’s how this team progresses or maybe what has to happen in the locker room to make sure it progresses and stays like this the rest of the way?
MARK POPE: It’s going to be every day all year long endeavor. And it is going to be a constant focus and constant topic of conversation. I think we can play so much harder. You know, I talked to the team and the staff about this. I don’t ever want someone to take the ball inside line out of bounds and just have an uncontested catch. We have enough bodies and enough energy and enough talent to contest every single possession every single second of the entire game. And I think we can wear on guys. You know, I don’t have a final possession count, but it was pretty high tonight and they helped us because they were willing to really run up and down too. We’d like to make these games as many possessions as we possibly can. If a team chooses to slow us down then we like to make the intensity level of every individual possession so high and we need each other to do it. I actually felt like we had fatigue on the floor. You know you think about it, our highest minutes was Collin Chandler at 23 minutes. Otega 20, Malachi at 20, Mo at 20, Jasper at 21, everyone else under 20. So the highest minutes guy was 23 and I still felt like we had fatigue on the floor. It’s a credit to our guys for playing so hard. I’d like to play harder and harder and harder. I think we can do it. I think we squeeze more into every single minute of the game and I think it feeds everybody.
Q Coach, you guys had Jaland Lowe return tonight. How important was that and how important is it to have him back and get some other guys in some more natural positions. We Collin be able to be off the ball more. Just how important was it for him and the other guys on the team?
MARK POPE: I thought Jaland was great. He’s a 5-0 guy, right? On his first game in a Kentucky uniform. He comes in and he’s 5-0 off the bench. It’s really impressive. He can get to wherever he wants to on the floor. That means a lot to us; that really has a really huge function for our team. I thought he was terrific defensively. He made an unbelievable saving play in transition one possession. The rest of the team just wasn’t there to help him. I think he’s a difference maker for us. He’s going to be massively important to this team. He’s got a ton of experience and he’s just cat cat quick and can get where ever he wants whenever he wants and that’s going to be important for us.
Q Mark, obviously the percentage is not where you want them to be 3-point shooting wise in the 2 exhibitions and the opener. Finished at almost 40% and at one point you were 7 for 11 to start the game. How important was it for the team’s confidence was it to see those threes falling like that?
MARK POPE: You guys would be upset with me. We don’t spend a lot of time talking about our three-point percentage. We talk about, and I know that’s unconventional. For us a lot of times, the offense starts when we shoot it, it’s not a finish. We are just focused on attempts. We might have a game where we shoot 11% and we should win that game and we might have a game where we shoot 40% and we should win that game. It’s just baked into the cake. The three-point side is the beginning of a possession, it’s the beginning of an opportunity for us, it’s not the ending. We shot it well tonight, you know, 11 for 28, and that’s fine. I’m still am frustrated we are not getting up more. We just got to find a way to get over this 30 mark.
Q Looking ahead a little bit. I don’t think we will talk to you before the Louisville game. With a top 15 matchup looming, do you have any early thoughts on that one?
MARK POPE: Yeah, it’s the biggest game. The nice thing for us is that every game is the biggest game we’ve ever played. In-state rivalry games are always fun and exciting. We can’t wait to get to it and we got to get through the autopsy of this game and take what we can learn and we will jump into that tomorrow. It’s just a beautiful thing. Everything comes so fast. We are going to be in New York the week after next. Someone told me that yesterday and I was like, wow, it seemed like it was months away. So, it’s just great game after great game after great game and this is certainly a big one, just like they all are. We will finish up this deal and then get to that and can’t wait to get out and play.
Q Hey coach, right over here. Jaland Lowe finally got to see the court for the first time. What did you see from him and do you have any timeline on when he could possibly start and play without caution to his right shoulder?
MARK POPE: Yeah. That’s going to be a work in progress for sure. But man, he looks sharp. He hit two corners, one in the first half same side left side corner where he just like, I mean, most of us mere mortals dream about being able to move on the floor as quickly as he can and then just spread the way he can. He had an unbelievable play to draw a power play and then find, I think it was Collin in the corner in the first half and in the second half he threw that left handed hook pass, I think it was to Collin again. Maybe the first one was to Collin, Denzel, yeah. And he just is got unbelievable vision. He just throws lasers and darts everywhere. They are on time, on target passes. It’s something we don’t talk about a lot. It’s NBA level. One of the difference between college guys and NBA guys is these college guys get in a lane and they kind of see and they deliver a pass to an area. J Lo is delivering passes right into the pocket and they are 35 hook laser passes, right? It’s off the move, it’s just really impressive. I don’t think there’s a lot of players in college basketball that could make the plays that he makes. Earning us really good shots was pretty special. A bunch of our guys was great hitting the roll tonight, but he was a big part of that. I thought he exerted terrific effort. He just brings so much to the game. He will open this game up for us and make it a little bit easier. And that’s important.
Q Coach, you flipped out on us the other day so I’m going to flip it on you. I think we want to hear about how your daughter thought about the game and how you did coaching tonight?
Shay: I think my dad did a really good job. We won, so. I’d say that’s a 10 out of 10.
MARK POPE: 10 out of 10, let’s go, I like that. I’m pretty sure that she doesn’t have enough gas to get home tonight, so she’s just staying here so I can fill up her card. Guys, thanks, have a great night.
