Tennessee basketball ended Mark Pope’s first season as the Kentucky head coach on Friday night, knocking off the Wildcats’ 78-65 in the Sweet.
Following the game, Kentucky head coach Mark Pope discussed his affinity for his first Kentucky team, what went wrong against the Vols and much more. Here’s everything Pope said.
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Opening statement
“It’s hard to talk about basketball right now. Congratulations to Tennessee. They played really hard and really well. I have a ton of respect for Coach Barnes. Mostly, we’re just sad that this is over.”
On what’s next for the program to get back to this point and to win
“It’s just being relentless about it, just what these guys did to set an incredible foundation, giving us a great beginning. They set a really high standard. They set a high standard on the court, and a higher standard in the locker room and off the floor. They set an incredibly high standard representing the University of Kentucky, representing BBN and representing this jersey, and I’m grateful for that.
That standard will carry us for a long time. We’ll be talking about these guys ten years from now as the guys that came in here and set a standard of what this is supposed to be, how you’re supposed to carry yourself as a Kentucky basketball player, how you’re supposed to connect yourself with your teammates. We’ll set this as a standard for the future. I’m very proud of these guys.
What was done has never been done before actually. In so many ways, it’s never been done before and it’s because they’re really, really, really special, special young men.”
On his belief around whether God cares who wins basketball games
“Man, this could be a long answer. I’ll keep it brief. I do believe that God has a plan for our lives. I do believe God brought all of us together with this extraordinary group. I think he brought us together so each of us individually could grow. I think he brought us together so we could build relationships that are going to last forever. I’m pretty sure one of these guys will be slumming at my house some time in the next years. I don’t know who it’s going to be.
I think that these guys have had an incredible impact. They’ve gone out of their way to have an incredible impact on BBN and the state of Kentucky and the community around them, whether it’s been their regular hospital visits or Ronald McDonald House visits, or meeting with fans before or after games, finding other ways to serve, and serving each other. I think this group was brought together to serve best they can. And these guys did it in an incredible fashion. We didn’t finish the job, which is a real thing.
But short of that, you couldn’t ask one more thing from these guys in how they serve, the standard they set, and how much of themselves they have given to this jersey and this community.”
On if he felt like he proved himself as Kentucky’s head coach this season
“That’s an interesting question. I heard this the other day, and I actually think it’s true and these guys have been incredible examples of this, something that goes like this: If the spotlight on you is brighter than the light that comes from within you, then it’ll destroy you. A roundabout way to answer your question, these guys have an amazing light coming out of each of them. At the end of the day, it’s not about them. I feel the same way. It’s not about us. I think that’s the space where we live.
And so when you live that way, of course we all have doubts every single day, we do, but when it’s about something more important than just ourselves, man, those doubts seem to blur a little bit, and you just spend all your time trying to figure out how we’re supposed to make a difference, how it’s supposed to be, how we’re supposed to serve, how we’re supposed to make an impact. That’s what these guys have done, man.
What they did on the basketball court is incredible, but what they did for each other and this community is bigger and it’s going to last longer and mean more.
So, I don’t know. I think the doubt gets swallowed up in that, I really do. Of course we have doubts every single day, but they’re minimal.”
