{"id":191384,"date":"2026-03-14T11:29:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T11:29:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/191384\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T11:29:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T11:29:19","slug":"mark-pope-kentucky-players-after-the-loss-to-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/191384\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Pope, Kentucky players after the loss to Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"

Needless to say, it was not a happy podium following Kentucky\u2019s loss to Florida, at least during the Cats\u2019 turn at the mics. Collin Chandler and Mo Dioubate joined Mark Pope to speak to reporters about the 71-63 defeat<\/a>, Kentucky\u2019s third to Florida this season, and fourth in a row on a Friday at the SEC Tournament. <\/p>\n

\u201cFrustrating night for us,\u201d Pope said to start things off. \u201cI thought the guys, I thought our competitive spirit was great. We got beat up on the glass in a massive way. We were in some foul trouble, trying to manage some foul issues. We ended up being small. Even when we were big, it was hard for us on the glass. Credit Florida for that. They did a tremendous job on the glass. We\u2019ll regroup and go home, then get ready for the NCAA Tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dioubate did not shy away from Kentucky\u2019s struggles in the post. Florida outrebounded the Cats 50-29, pulling down 18 offensive boards to Kentucky\u2019s eight, which turned into 21 second-chance points.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they just did a really good job on the glass tonight. Both the first two games we played them, they weren\u2019t this good on the glass. Today, they just got a lot of good tips. They won a lot of 50\/50 balls. We could have done a better job with rebounding. That\u2019s where I feel like if there had been a big difference in the game if we had rebounded more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alas, the Cats did not and will head home to prepare for Selection Sunday. Mark Pope didn\u2019t have much to say about Kentucky\u2019s potential path, but thinks the experience they had in Nashville will help them along the way. He was also proud of his team for not giving up, once again clawing back from a double-digit deficit to keep it close at the end.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast game, we handled the glass, and we couldn\u2019t handle transition. In this game, we handled transition, and we couldn\u2019t handle the glass. You have to be able to do both. You have to.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I thought our guys, even though we didn\u2019t play well, you can sense your team as they\u2019re just grinding away and trying to find answers, if their focus is present or if they\u2019re stuck in what just happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can hear more about it below, along with a joke Pope made about officiating. It was horrendous today, but he ensured he won\u2019t get another $25,000 fine from the league.<\/p>\n

In the mood for more? Here is almost a half hour of footage from Kentucky\u2019s locker room following the loss.<\/p>\n

More postgame coverage is on the way on the KSR YouTube Channel. Subscribe today to see press conferences, interviews, Rapid Reaction, and more.<\/a><\/p>\n

Transcript<\/p>\n

THE MODERATOR: We\u2019re joined by Kentucky. We\u2019ll begin with an opening statement from Coach.<\/p>\n

MARK POPE: All right. Frustrating night for us. I thought the guys, I thought our competitive spirit was great. We got beat up on the glass in a massive way. We were in some foul trouble, trying to manage some foul issues. We ended up being small. Even when we were big, it was hard for us on the glass. Credit Florida for that. They did a tremendous job on the glass.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll regroup and go home, then get ready for the NCAA tournament.<\/p>\n

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the players.<\/p>\n

Q.\u00a0I know it\u2019s not the ending you wanted, but how have these three games has helped you prepare for the NCAA tournament?<\/p>\n

COLLIN CHANDLER: A lot of opportunities to learn a lot of reps that we got this week. So we\u2019re going to take those into the next few weeks as we play in the tournament.<\/p>\n

MOUHAMED DIOUBATE: No one is battle-tested like us. I think a lot of these games that we played this weekend will help us, is going to help us, transition to the NCAA tournament. We just going to carry on the momentum.<\/p>\n

Q.\u00a0Mo, getting beat up on the glass, was that due to Florida having too many big bodies, being tired?<\/p>\n

MOUHAMED DIOUBATE: I think they just did a really good job on the glass tonight. Both the first two games we played them, they weren\u2019t this good on the glass. Today they just got a lot of good tips. They won a lot of 50\/50 balls.<\/p>\n

We could have did a better job with rebounding. That\u2019s where I feel like if there had been a big difference in the game if we had rebounded more. We just got to be better.<\/p>\n

THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, you\u2019re dismissed. We\u2019ll continue with questions for Coach Pope.<\/p>\n

Q.\u00a0Do you think the way you played three games, three days, has any impact on your seeding for next week?<\/p>\n

MARK POPE: We spend zero time on that. Things out of your control. We don\u2019t spend any time. We\u2019re just trying to get ourselves to playing the best basketball we can.<\/p>\n

I think we gained a ton of experience in the last three days. It\u2019s important for us. I\u2019m proud of the way our guys competed the last three days. I thought we have so much. You\u2019re just trying to steal every lesson you can. We had a lot of lessons from the last few days that we\u2019ll take with us and make a huge push in the tournament.<\/p>\n

Q.\u00a0It looked like Malachi went to the back and maybe got his leg looked at. Didn\u2019t come back in. Anything to report there?<\/p>\n

MARK POPE: No. Just got some soreness that he\u2019ll deal with. We\u2019ll have a couple days to rehab him. He\u2019ll be in top, peak-level performance for the tournament.<\/p>\n

Q.\u00a0You always talk about learning from every game, win or loss. What do you take from today\u2019s game, from these three games against Florida this season where you didn\u2019t lead for a single second?<\/p>\n

MARK POPE: I thought our guys, we didn\u2019t play well. We couldn\u2019t make a shot. We couldn\u2019t grab a rebound. For us, it\u2019s the way Florida, they\u2019re a good team. Give them some credit there. They challenge you in transition. They challenge you on the glass.<\/p>\n

Last game we handled the glass, we couldn\u2019t handle transition. This game we handled transition and we couldn\u2019t handle the glass. You have to be able to do both. You have to.<\/p>\n

But I thought our guys, even though we didn\u2019t play well, you can sense your team as they\u2019re just grinding away and trying to find answers, if their focus is present or if they\u2019re stuck in what just happened.<\/p>\n

I thought Otega Oweh\u2019s leadership today was on an extraordinary level. I\u2019m telling you, I\u2019m so proud of Otega Oweh in terms of his willingness to be present in the moment through all the frustration of the day.<\/p>\n

It bodes well. If we can carry that with us, we have a chance. We\u2019ll play way better than this. We\u2019ll play so much better than this. I have no doubt.<\/p>\n

If we can hang on to that ability to focus for 40 minutes on just trying to find answers, we\u2019re going to make a great run.<\/p>\n

Q.\u00a0As you look forward now to the tournament, you compare r\u00e9sum\u00e9s of a lot of these teams, why do you think your team deserves to be on the higher end?<\/p>\n

MARK POPE: I trust the people that are making those decisions to make those decisions.<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, you got a bunch of teams. You got to win all your games. I\u2019m not really concerned. We have to go play great teams. Everybody in the tournament is going to be a great team. You have to find a way to win \u2019em. Feels very much like the SEC. You play great teams every night. It\u2019s really not any more complicated than that.<\/p>\n

Q.\u00a0How big was it to get Kam back for these games?<\/p>\n

MARK POPE: Yeah, I\u2019m very, very grateful that we were able to get him into some games so he can have a little bit of feel. Now going into practice this week, it\u2019s just different when you\u2019ve been in the game, then you can apply your practice to what you just experienced. I\u2019m very grateful for that.<\/p>\n

He was a game-time decision today. We were a little nervous. His pain went up a little bit. We limited his minutes, but he still got a touch a little bit.<\/p>\n

Q.\u00a0Looking ahead to the tournament, all the good teams you might play, how unique is Florida? Four bigs and they can move in transition.<\/p>\n

MARK POPE: It\u2019s interesting when you look at the top, you follow basketball, a team that is so dedicated to two-point field goal percentage, the glass. They have very much of an Arizona vibe. There\u2019s teams at the very top of the standings that are doing this a little bit different. They have tremendous size and physicality. They\u2019re actually not hungry to score from three.<\/p>\n

They will. The first game at Florida, they hurt us in the first half making shots. They don\u2019t do that very much. They don\u2019t have to do that very much.<\/p>\n

There are teams at the top of the standings that are built this way. There\u2019s a little bit of a unique run right now.<\/p>\n

Q.\u00a0In hindsight, do you regret using the challenge so early in the game?<\/p>\n

MARK POPE: No. Listen, our crew that\u2019s leading that has been fantastic. I think we\u2019re probably in the 90 percentile give or take right now. It\u2019s a complicated thing because a challenge doesn\u2019t have anything to do with what your players are experiencing or the fans or anybody else. It doesn\u2019t even have anything to do with the referee. It just has to do with what they\u2019ve captured on the video. That\u2019s the only thing that matters.<\/p>\n

Every single player might be sure about something. The referees might feel like they\u2019re sure about something. If it\u2019s not caught on the video, it can\u2019t be overruled.<\/p>\n

Our team has done a great job with these challenges. We missed tonight. You\u2019re never going to be perfect.<\/p>\n

I would have loved to have it back because I would have loved to have challenged a bunch more calls. Although I think the referees did a tremendous job, so\u2026We should be safe, right?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Needless to say, it was not a happy podium following Kentucky\u2019s loss to Florida, at least during the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-191384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}