Mark Pope doubles down that pregame Louisville incident is 'a dud'

In its first road game of the season, No. 9 Kentucky fell at rival No. 12 Louisville 96-88 last Tuesday night. Things got even worse for the ‘Cats the following week, as they then dropped their Champions Classic game to Michigan State 83-66. It’s safe to say vibes surrounding the program aren’t great at the moment.

Following that Louisville loss, Pope raised some eyebrows with a quote about the game. In it, he detailed an ‘out of character’ pregame experience for his team prior to tip-off.

“I’m not ready to tell the story yet, but at some point, we will talk in detail about our pregame experience at Louisville,” Pope said. “It was out of character for us. That’s young and new. I don’t want to keep our emotions in check, I want to keep them focused. I want to keep them intentional. I want our guys to have ALL of the emotion.”

“What’s the point if you can’t have all the emotion? But I don’t want our guys to be run by our emotion. I want our guys to focus their emotion, and I know that sounds 30,000 foot level stuff, but I’m being very specific on that.”

Mark Pope squashes Louisville incident rumors, calls it a ‘dud’

During Thursday’s media opportunity, fresh off the blowout loss at Madison Square Garden, Pope once again downplayed the pregame incident that incited many rumors about what actually happened prior to tip-off in the KFC Yum! Center.

“There’s nothing there,” Pope said. “Literally, we flipped the switch early…I wish there was more drama to make it more exciting, but there just wasn’t. But the management of your emotions is really important to what we do. So I’m sorry that that’s a dud. I wish I had more, more salacious material for you.”

“I don’t think (team chemistry) is our issue at all right ow. I wouldn’t say that’s even close to our issue. I don’t think that pops up on my radar at all. This is a really special group of guys that are trying to find themselves right now.”

The ‘Cats went into Tuesday night’s game against Tom Izzo‘s Spartans desperately needing a win after the rough week of PR. This however was not the case. Although Kentucky took a 17-14 lead with 13:36 remaining in the first half, it was outscored 30-10 over the final 13 minutes. It matched Michigan State‘s second half point total of 39, but it was not enough to overcome that rough end to the opening half.

With games against No. 18 North Carolina and No. 13 Gonzaga on the schedule in the coming weeks, it will take much more inspired play from the ‘Cats to earn their first power-four victory of the season.