Mark Pope jabs Louisville over ‘Kentucky Derby’ name

The Kentucky–Louisville rivalry doesn’t end when the two teams walk off the hardwood. On Tuesday, Wildcats head coach Mark Pope poked fun at Louisville while discussing his experience at the Kentucky Derby.

“My first one was last year and it was awesome. Then, this year — I mean, come on. It’s one of the great sporting events in the world,” Pope said. “It’s just a beautiful event. It’s so much Kentucky. I know it’s in Louisville, but it’s called the Kentucky Derby for a reason.”

Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby, is in Louisville. In contrast, Lexington has Keeneland, a less well-known but still highly-regarded horse race track. Lexington is also known as the “Horse Capital of the World” due to the hundreds of horse farms within the city limits.

Horses aside, there’s never a shortage of bad blood between the Wildcats and Cardinals. Pope’s comment about the Kentucky Derby wasn’t his only jest toward Louisville during his press conference on Tuesday.

On May 7, Kentucky and Louisville announced their annual matchup will be on Nov. 11 in the upcoming season, the earliest the two teams have ever met in a season. Some Kentucky fans weren’t happy about the oddly early meeting and Pope shifted the blame onto Louisville.

“I heard there was a push that people wanted it in December. Is that right?” Pope asked. “Blame Louisville for that.”

In fairness, Pope quickly walked back his comment, emphasizing he wasn’t involved in the scheduling of the historic game. Alas, some Louisville fans couldn’t help but be annoyed by Pope’s words.

The Kentucky-Louisville basketball rivalry has been a lopsided affair in recent years. Since 2010, Kentucky is 14-3 against the Cardinals and has won the teams’ last three meetings. Most recently, the Wildcats defeated Louisville 93-85 in Rupp Arena on Dec. 14, 2024.

It was Pope’s first win in the historic rivalry as Kentucky’s head coach. While the in-state feud is still considered one of the best rivalries in college basketball, Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey knows the Cardinals are overdue to pick up a few wins against the Wildcats.

“Rivalries are rivalries because one team wins sometimes and the other team wins sometimes. We (Louisville) got to start doing our part,” Kelsey said during an appearance on The Backyard Pod.

Louisville will host the rivalry game in the 2025-26 season in the KFC Yum! Center. The game’s tip-off time hasn’t been announced yet.