WATCH: Mark Pope’s brief and fiery press conference after Kentucky’s loss to Auburn
Mark Pope spoke for less than four minutes after Kentucky’s 75-74 loss to Auburn, but he made them count. We’ve seen Pope down after losses, but tonight, he was seething, furious with the officials for the offensive foul on Collin Chandler with 14 seconds to go.
Pope knew he couldn’t attack the officials directly, but he did everything but, telling reporters that sometimes the game can be “super personal” and that he and the team will “refuse to give them our power.” Once outside the door to the media room, he really let it rip, telling Mitch Barnhart, “If those MFers try to fine me, screw them. I didn’t say a word about how they cheated up.”
So…what else did Pope say in his press conference? He praised Otega Oweh, who finished with a career-high 29 points. When asked, he credited Auburn’s Keyshawn Hall, Keshawn Murphy, and Elyjah Freeman for their play. Most of all, he made it clear that Kentucky will bounce back, even amid the longest losing streak since the 2020-21 season.
“There’s no message, man. We come to compete. We’re coming to compete. We’re a little short-handed right now, but we have control over winning and losing. And I thought the guys put together a great effort tonight, and we didn’t get the win. And so now we go to work on Tuesday and go get the win. That’s what we do. We’re not sitting here, you know, trying to consider nonsense. We’re trying to win games.”
Next up: South Carolina in Columbia on Tuesday night.
Mark Pope Transcript
Q: Mark, walk us through what you were thinking after that call with Collin [Chandler].
A: Well, we’re not allowed to talk about the referees, but you guys saw it, and I think sometimes it’s just super personal, so I’m not allowed to comment on the referees. I won’t comment on the referees. It’s unfortunate that, you know, just unfortunate. So it didn’t cost us a game. We’re in control of the game, so we’re finding ways to go win.
Q: Coach, Otega Oweh had 29 points in the game, also in foul trouble late, but you put it back in there down the stretch. What do you see from him, and to play him with four fouls?
A: He was unbelievable. What he overcame and who he overcame tonight, like, you know, a lot of times it felt like he was playing, you know, one on seven, one on eight. Sometimes that happens. I thought he was brilliant. I thought our guys attacked it great, and we just came up short. We need to make one more play. We didn’t make enough plays. Credit to Auburn.
Q: Coach, you held Keyshawn Hall tonight to 3-15 shooting. He didn’t get to the line until super late. What was the defensive assignment there, and what were you looking at?
A: I thought Otega did a nice job. I thought Mo [Dioubate] did a nice job. I thought Coach Fox did a nice job with the defensive scouts, and it was executed just not barely enough, quite well enough.
Q: Mark. I know you can’t talk about officials, but your players saw the play, and what do you say to them in the locker room about that situation?
A: Well, we refuse to give control to people who are outside of our program. Refuse, regardless of how personal it might get or how bad it might get. We refuse to give control to fans, to give control to anybody else associated with this game, regardless of how blatantly people are trying to make this not happen. We refuse to give them our power. That’s what I talk about. We have 48 hours to turn this around. We got a massive game at South Carolina. We’re going to go find a way to win it, because that’s what we do. So we’re not giving away our power. We’re not like we don’t make excuses. We don’t do that regardless of what is happening, regardless of how disgraceful things are. We don’t give away our power, regardless of how embarrassing, personal, awful, like, unacceptable things are. We refuse to give away our power.
Q: Keshawn Murphy finished with 25 points. What have you seen from him?
A: Yeah, I thought they did a nice job kind of attacking our x-out. I thought he was really good. He hurt us on the glass early. They did a nice job finding him. He’s a big, powerful, strong kid who played a great game, and he probably made the biggest shot of the night, and we challenged him to make it, and he made it, and so credit to him. You know, he had a terrific night and performed well.
Q: Mark, you guys had won seven of eight. Now lost three in a row. The last two, you’ve been up nine. What’s the message to the team to get your bounce back?
A: There’s no message, man. We come to compete. We’re coming to compete. We’re a little short-handed right now, but we have control over winning and losing. And I thought the guys put together a great effort tonight, and we didn’t get the win. And so now we go to work on Tuesday and go get the win. That’s what we do. We’re not sitting here, you know, trying to consider nonsense. We’re trying to win games.
Q: Coach, Elyjah Freeman, came off the bench for Auburn. Can you talk about what kind of mismatches he created?
A: Yeah, he’s a terrific player. He’s really athletic. I thought he really did a good job tonight. He can hurt off the bounce. He banged his first three from the corner. You know, he has length to him. I think he’s a good player. He’s got a great future.
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