Kentucky players show frustration, were 'barking at each other' amid struggles vs. Michigan State

As Kentucky struggled in Tuesday’s Champions Classic game against Michigan State, frustration started to boil over. ESPN’s Kris Budden reported Wildcats players were “barking at each other” during a timeout before Mark Pope sat down to walk through the game plan.

Michigan State had a huge day on offense, hitting 11 three-pointers en route to the resounding 83-66 victory at Madison Square Garden. Kentucky’s defense struggled mightily, and it created some friction late in the game.

Late in the second half, while Michigan State held a 14-point lead, that continued into the huddle during a timeout. Pope then tried to settle things before going through the next steps out of the break.

“Jay [Bilas], you made the comment whether Kentucky players were shellshocked,” Budden said on the broadcast. “Well, they were frustrated with each other. Kind of, players barking at each other.

“When Mark Pope sat down, tried to settle everyone. He said, ‘This is where we need to make our push.’ But it involves getting stops and being better in transition.”

Entering Tuesday’s game, Michigan State had made 13 three-pointers on the season. The Spartans found their shot against Kentucky, though, as Trey Fort and Jaxon Kohler led the charge with five of the 11 made triples in the victory.

But for UK, the game creates more questions through the early part of the year. The ‘Cats dropped to 3-2 and have now lost two of their last three, including the rivalry game against Louisville. As he assessed the state of the team in his postgame press conference, Pope acknowledged the questions surrounding the program amid the struggles. Moving forward, he vowed to turn things around.

“I think the identity of the team is completely separate from any individual player,” Pope said. “I actually think – I’m going to temper my words right now – I actually think our identity should be, if you build an organization the right way, then your identity is not about an individual person. Your identity is about a collective group, and it shouldn’t matter if we had built a great organization and a great culture, which I have clearly failed to do up until today.

“But we won’t fail this season; we just have failed up until today. We will build an organization where it won’t be disrupted every time someone steps in and steps out because we’ll have a team identity, not an individual identity. Until we get there, we’re going to really struggle. That’s my job. That’s why they brought me here. I’m doing it poorly; I won’t do it poorly for much longer.”