Kentucky basketball’s Mark Pope on season-opening win versus Nicholls
Kentucky basketball coach Mark Pope talks about the Wildcats’ defense after the 77-51 season-opening win against Nicholls at Rupp Arena.
LEXINGTON — Through a pair of preseason exhibitions (Purdue and Georgetown University) and Tuesday’s opening win over Nicholls, Kentucky basketball hasn’t been shy about launching 3s.
Which is the point.
UK coach Mark Pope hopes his team can hoist at least 30 triples per game.
There’s just one problem so far: The Wildcats’ aim is off.
Watch Kentucky basketball’s game vs. Valparaiso
Kentucky went 9 for 29 (31%) against Purdue. It was 7 of 30 (23.3%) versus Georgetown. And the Cats missed 20 of their 27 attempts in the win over the Colonels — a success rate of 25.9%.
UK’s 3-point shooting was especially errant in Tuesday’s first half, where it was just 2 for 16 (12.5%).
“We were a little bit of a bubbling mess, which should happen sometimes. It was everything,” Pope said of his team’s first-half offense (or lack thereof) in the opener. “We actually had some good possessions where we just didn’t finish them. We had some real stagnation. We had some misreads. … It was a lot of different things, but mostly, it was just us kind of establishing a feel for the game and really dialing in on being incredibly aggressive and (making) plays for our teammates.”
As Kentucky (1-0) prepares to host Valparaiso (1-0) tonight at Rupp Arena, perhaps help is on the way. Pope said Jaland Lowe, expected to be the team’s starting point guard this season, may return from a shoulder injury that has sidelined him since he fell to the floor during the Blue-White intrasquad scrimmage on Oct. 17.
“I think short term, it has an impact (offensively). I think long term, it’s gonna make us better,” Pope said, before continuing. “It forces you to kind of ‘dig under the hood’ and explore a bunch of things. I think sometimes having — everybody’s roster is always dynamic, right? It’s always changing. So the more it is (changing), the more you get to look in and tinker and figure things out and understand things better and in a new way.”
The Wildcats, who are No. 9 in the USA TODAY Sports Men’s Basketball Coaches Poll and AP Top 25, try to keep rolling tonight in their final outing before the Battle of the Bluegrass beckons. The Beacons, on the other hand, vie for their first win (in their third try) versus the Wildcats.
Courier Journal sports reporter Ryan Black and columnist C.L. Brown are at Rupp Arena and will have live updates throughout the game — here and on X, formerly known as Twitter — and complete coverage after. You can follow them on X at @RyanABlack and @clbrownhoops.
Here are Kentucky’s starters vs. Valparaiso:
And here’s Valparaiso’s lineup:
UK will debut the Nike Kobe 5s tonight versus Valparaiso.
The game between the Wildcats and Beacons will not air on a traditional television channel.
Instead, it will be streamed live on SEC Network+, a complementary digital platform to the linear SEC Network run by ESPN.
Authenticated subscribers can access SEC Network+ via TV-connected devices or by going to WatchESPN.com, the WatchESPN app or ESPN+.
Stream Kentucky basketball’s game vs. Valparaiso on SEC Network+
Tom Leach (play-by-play) and Jack Givens (analyst) will have the UK radio network call on 840 AM in Louisville and both 630 AM and 98.1 FM in Lexington.
You can also listen online via UKAthletics.com.
- Oct. 17: Blue-White game (Click here to read takeaways from the intrasquad scrimmage.)
- Oct. 24: exhibition vs. Purdue (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 78, Purdue 65
- Oct. 30: exhibition vs. Georgetown University (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Georgetown 84, Kentucky 70
- Nov. 4: Nicholls (Rupp Arena) ∣ SCORE: Kentucky 77, Nicholls 51
- Nov. 7: Valparaiso (Rupp Arena), 7 p.m.
- Nov. 11: at Louisville (KFC Yum! Center), 8 p.m.
- Nov. 14: Eastern Illinois (Rupp Arena), 7 p.m.
- Nov. 18: vs. Michigan State (Champions Classic; Madison Square Garden, New York), 6:30 p.m.
- Nov. 21: Loyola University Maryland (Rupp Arena), 7 p.m.
- Nov. 26: Tennessee Tech (Rupp Arena), 7 p.m.
- Dec. 2: North Carolina (Rupp Arena; ACC/SEC Challenge), 9:30 p.m.
- Dec. 5: vs. Gonzaga (Bridgestone Arena; Nashville), 7 p.m.
- Dec. 9: North Carolina Central (Rupp Arena), 7 p.m.
- Dec. 13: Indiana (Rupp Arena), 7:30 p.m.
- Dec. 20: vs. St. John’s (CBS Sports Classic; State Farm Arena, Atlanta), 12:30 p.m.
- Dec. 23: Bellarmine (Rupp Arena), 1 p.m.
- Jan. 3: at Alabama, 1 p.m.
- Jan. 7: Missouri (Rupp Arena), 7 p.m.
- Jan. 10: Mississippi State (Rupp Arena), 8:30 p.m.
- Jan. 14: at LSU, 7 p.m.
- Jan. 17: at Tennessee, Noon
- Jan. 21: Texas (Rupp Arena), 7 p.m.
- Jan. 24: Ole Miss (Rupp Arena), Noon
- Jan. 27: at Vanderbilt, 9 p.m.
- Jan. 31: at Arkansas, 6:30 p.m.
- Feb. 4: Oklahoma (Rupp Arena), 7 p.m.
- Feb. 7: Tennessee (Rupp Arena), 8:30 p.m.
- Feb. 14: at Florida, 3 p.m.
- Feb. 17: Georgia (Rupp Arena), 9 p.m.
- Feb. 21: at Auburn, 8:30 p.m.
- Feb. 24: at South Carolina, 7 p.m.
- Feb. 28: Vanderbilt (Rupp Arena), 2 p.m.
- March 3: at Texas A&M, 7 p.m.
- March 7: Florida (Rupp Arena), 4 p.m.
Record: 1-0
- Denzel Aberdeen (guard, senior)
- Collin Chandler (guard, sophomore)
- Mouhamed Dioubate (forward, junior)
- Brandon Garrison (forward, junior)
- Braydon Hawthorne (forward, freshman)
- Walker Horn (guard, senior)
- Andrija Jelavić (forward, sophomore)
- Jasper Johnson (guard, freshman)
- Jaland Lowe (guard, junior)
- Malachi Moreno (freshman, center)
- Trent Noah (forward, sophomore)
- Otega Oweh (guard, senior)
- Reece Potter (forward, junior)
- Jayden Quaintance (forward, sophomore)
- Zach Tow (forward, senior)
- Kam Williams (guard, sophomore)
Click here to view the Beacons’ complete schedule.
Want to learn the Beacons’ roster?
Click here for player bios and more.
Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.
