Mark Pope believes bench communication, led by Jaland Lowe, was difference vs. No. 1 Purdue

Collin Chandler was Mark Pope‘s game MVP in Kentucky’s win over No. 1 Purdue to open exhibition play, despite scoring just two points in the 13-point victory. That was because he did everything else to help the Wildcats come out on top, rebounding and defending while making the right reads to open things up for his teammates.

“He was unbelievable,” Pope said.

The second-year coach’s second game MVP? A guy who didn’t play a single second.

Jaland Lowe, out with a shoulder injury, brought his leadership to the bench and kept the conversation moving as Pope figured out his rotation for the first time in a live game setting. Whether it’s Lowe, one of his teammates, the coaches or support staff members, that’s going to be the standard for the season.

“I was proud of our guys. I thought our bench was elite,” Pope said after the 78-65 win. “I thought Jaland Lowe was unbelievable on the bench. I thought Jaland Lowe, he would probably be my second player of the game. He was unbelievable on the bench, keeping guys engaged and talking.”

That was contagious, a major point of emphasis for the Wildcats all offseason now coming to life under the bright lights at Rupp Arena. It’s why they pumped crowd noise into practice the week leading up to the exhibition matchup and focus so much on body language and togetherness.

That stuff all matters — it impacts winning.

“I thought our staff was really good on the bench communicating. We are going to need that,” Pope continued. “This is going to be — like every season, it is going to be an up-and-down, Rocky Road, huge challenge season. We are going to have to overcome adversity. We are trying to create habits. The more you do it, the more it becomes a habit. There was some intangible stuff I thought we did pretty well tonight that we are working so hard to make a habit.”

The leader of that movement, Alvin Brooks III, has been beating that drum since he first arrived last offseason. Kentucky’s Associate Head Coach is the king of nicknames like Godfidence and Ball of Duty, Code Gold the name of his body language film sessions a year ago.

It’s extra work when the focus could be on recruiting or scouting or on-court player development, but that effort goes a long way.

“Alvin Brooks is probably the leader in all of basketball, actually. Alvin Brooks probably is in terms of body language and team communication. And he grades our team every single day on every single touch on every single beast mode on every single interaction. It’s painstaking work, but it’s really important.

“We are going to have to continue to have that juice and get better and better and better at it. It shows in postgame and we are going to be really successful if we can love each other. We are going to be really successful if we can care about this team, 51% of us can care about this team. That would be unprecedented if we could get there.”

Those summer habits were for the fall, fall habits for the exhibition games. Now, the exhibition habits are to prepare for the non-conference schedule, which will get the players ready for the conference slate, which will get them ready for the SEC Tournament, which will get them ready for March Madness.

It’s all a process, step by step. No shortcuts. Do it the right way and they’ll be prepared for March — and April.

“Our guys are working hard at it. They’re trying to develop habits, they are working hard to love each other and that’s going to be an every-day, all-season-long challenge for us that we are going to keep fighting,” Pope said. “I love it. I think if we can do it, not only are we going to be a great team but we are going to be a great example to the world about — just having something more important than just yourself.

“These guys have a chance to be great. We haven’t even started the season yet, but those are our goals. That’s what we’d like to do.”