Jamal Mashburn takes shot at Kentucky: 'They look like kittens more than Wildcats.'

One of the greatest Kentucky Wildcats to come through the program does not believe this group is living up to the standard that comes with wearing that sacred piece of cloth.

Jamal Mashburn, a former consensus First Team All-American and SEC Player of the Year, who went on to become an All-NBA player with 11,644 career points, 3,271 rebounds and 2,414 assists, took a shot at his alma mater on TNT late Thursday evening. Though he’s only willing to put the concern level at 3/5 just five games into the regular season with two losses, the former UK superstar is not pleased with the start for Mark Pope’s group, especially knowing it’s the most expensive roster in college basketball.

The simple things aren’t coming easily for the Wildcats and the hard things feel impossible. That’s why they’ve lost both games against actual competition by what has felt like a million.

“I would say ‘3’ at this particular point,” Mashburn said of his panic meter. “And I would say the reason why is because how they are playing. They’re not shooting the ball well from three, they’re not guarding the three, they’re not rebounding. They look like kittens more than Wildcats.”

Oof.

That brought him to the money side of things and the team’s poor return on investment to begin the season. When you spend that kind of money, how do you not land one clear-cut superstar with that? Where is the alpha? He’s got questions.

“At the end of the day, when you spend $22 million in NIL, there has to be some accountability. Why are you going out there – not to say that all these guys are not good players, but when I look at $22 million, you’ve got to find a stud or two that you can play off of. … I’m not seeing [an alpha] quite yet because the alpha is usually the one that takes control of that locker room.

“And I’m hearing the head coach, Mark Pope, doing a lot of taking control of that particular locker room. When it’s not player-led, that’s going to be difficult to transition from a head coaching standpoint to get the guys going.”

“They look like kittens more than Wildcats.” 😳

From the former Wildcat himself, @jamalmashburn weighs in on Mark Pope’s Kentucky squad so far this year. pic.twitter.com/240KWdIV8v

— TNT Sports U.S. (@TNTSportsUS) November 21, 2025

Joining him on the TNT panel? None other than Bruce Pearl, who recently retired as the head coach at Auburn and had plenty of run-ins with the Wildcats — including one last year against Pope in his final season on the Plains.

He’s even more concerned about Kentucky figuring things out than Mashburn. Things have to happen and they happen fast for these Cats if they want to live out those Final Four dreams with a return to Indianapolis.

They don’t look the part right now.

“Players win championships,” Pearl said. “Coaches can help win games. We really can. But when we need to get a stop, these guys in the huddle [need to] say, ‘We need to get a stop.’ They’re going to look at each other, that’s what’s going to happen.”

Of the money they spent on this roster, Pearl believes Pope overspent on role players rather than committing to star talent.

“I think the thing with Kentucky, for me, is too many. They’ve got too many pieces. They have spent starter money on backups,” he continued. “So you’ve got a locker room of guys that all think they’re all supposed to start, they all think they’re supposed to finish, none of them are going to play a role. None of them are going to be unselfish.

“I actually think less is more sometimes with championship teams. The Fab Five had to play roles. You had some guys that had to settle for less when they were on other teams. I think that’s Kentucky’s problem. And I think it’s bigger than 3. I think it’s maybe 4.”

Unfortunately, this kind of talk won’t be going away anytime soon with Kentucky not taking on power conference competition again until December. The Wildcats will simply have to take their lumps until they can prove otherwise against the likes of North Carolina, Gonzaga, Indiana and St. John’s next month.