The Mark Pope Show presented by UK HealthCare, February 25th 2026

The Voice of the Wildcats, Tom Leach talks with head coach Mark Pope

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
There is nowhere in the world's work.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Let's apply, Yes man, come on, stay up a let's go,
let go pre.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
Minute, oh partition this free ball Tucky pre take the lead,
little mission.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
What's what's up?

Speaker 4 (00:32):
Reballs?

Speaker 3 (00:33):
Not?

Speaker 5 (00:33):
Don't count the bucket?

Speaker 2 (00:36):
What makes us different than everybody else?

Speaker 5 (00:39):
Is you all from the UK Sports Network.

Speaker 6 (00:43):
This is the Mark Folk Show, presented by UK Healthcare.
Send your questions to Coach Pope on that Clark's Poppin'
Shop text line at eight five nine twos er own
three one two three four. You can also post your
questions on x at UK Sports Network or on the
UK Sports Network Facebook page.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
Our assignment is to go win banners, win national champions
That's our job.

Speaker 6 (01:15):
The Mark Pope Show, presented by UK Healthcare begins now.

Speaker 5 (01:20):
Alongside the coach. Here's the voice Southern Cats, Tom Leach.

Speaker 4 (01:32):
Welcome back into our show for another week. It is
the Mark Pope Show, presented by UK Healthcare, and we
are here to talk with you about Kentucky basketball. Coach
Mark Pope is alongside as the Cats come off a
win at South Carolina last night and now come back
home to face the Vanderbilt Commodorees. And that'll be Saturday

(01:52):
afternoon at two Eastern time on ESPN coverage. We'll start
at eleven thirty with the countdown to tip off show.
We'll come back, I have a coach Pope about the
victory in Colombia, and then we'll get some of your
questions a little later on Darius Miller a former player
segment a little later in the show tonight from the
twenty twelve National Championship team. That's what's coming up all
right here on the UK Sports Network.

Speaker 6 (02:17):
You're listening to The Mark Pope Show, presented by UK
Healthcare on the UK Sports Network.

Speaker 5 (02:24):
The Mark Pope Show is brought to you by Coca.

Speaker 6 (02:26):
Cola, Appalachian Regional Healthcare, Little Caesars and by UK Healthcare.

Speaker 5 (02:32):
Tell me who's in that house tonight, UK.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
Fight every single day, for every single one.

Speaker 6 (02:43):
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Speaker 4 (05:21):
Make sure you're watching bb in Game Day, presented by
c CHI s a Total Health all season long. The
show airs on Saturday mornings at nine on wl EX
here at Lexington. Check UK athletics dot com Slash UK
Sports Network for TV affiliates and times in your area.
Fans outside the state can watch at UK athletics dot com,
Slash Videos, or on the Kentucky Wildcats Facebook page. Showed
now by coach Smark Pope. There is nothing like the

(05:44):
day after a win.

Speaker 2 (05:45):
Right day after. Winds are good, Yes they are.

Speaker 4 (05:50):
When you have went back and looked at the tape.
What were some of the things that you saw maybe
that didn't show up in real time.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
Well, it's interesting, this doesn't happen all the time. I
was so pleas with our defensive effort. I was really
really pleased. You know, South Carolina was coming off a
game where they put up ninety seven, had been had
been shooting the ball really well. Certainly they started out
the first half knocking down three threes, which was unsettling,

(06:17):
But after that I thought our guys were tremendous. Actually
on the film, they were better on film than I
felt like it was. During the game. We had some
issues on the offensive side. But I thought our guys commitment.
I thought Denzel gave us an unbelievable effort, you know,
I thought, really, our whole backcourt, in our front court
are our bigs. You know. We ended up doing some

(06:38):
late switching where they were really good. I was really
pleased with the guys effort there. It wasn't perfect by
any means, but it looked really good on film, and
I was encouraged by that.

Speaker 4 (06:48):
I think this happened. I think this was after you
were up seven they came back to tie it. Maybe
it was before that. Anyway, you switched or I didn't switch.
What you added in that three quarter three quarter court
press you guys liked to do, and it was I
felt very effective.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
He was insured by the numbers. South Caroline is really
good against his own there at one point one something
points possession against his own Inexplicably, they hadn't been greater
good suppressed, which doesn't make a lot of sense. But
our guys, you know, on the first possession, Jasper did
a nice job pushing up and using his length and
they end up throwing a cross court pass and Mo

(07:25):
kind of you know, backpedals that part of the zone
and goes against the steal and actually gets a full
court layup. So actually a big time played by Mo
who's just incredible right now. By the way, I don't
know how many people know this, but it's Ramadan right now,
and so Moe is, you know, on Dame days right now,
he is eating before the sun comes up, and then

(07:46):
he's fasting all day long. And I think he was
you know, I think he got to have his first
meal of the day at six forty seven pm, just
an hour before or not not even not even just
you know, not that long before tip and then you know,
he came out on the floor and gave a tremendous effort.
But certainly the zone press helped us a little bit

(08:08):
in the second half of that game.

Speaker 4 (08:09):
His game was one of those sometimes there's a game
like this. You can look at his points. He had
to think twelve, like we talked about, he got twenty
three out of the four spot. But I really thought
he had more rebounds that it showed up in the
box score. So it must have been just fifty to
fifty balls that he didn't get credit for a rebound.
Plus I thought defensively, he was really good too.

Speaker 2 (08:27):
Yeah, they had a good tip game, and there was
you know, there's one really bad switch miscommunication where we
gave up a three that he was involved in. But
his energy was terrific and he was forced al off
the bounce and he actually got downhill and and made
really good decisions. You know, he did his work on
the ground, which is really important him. He kept his

(08:47):
drib alive, which was really important to him. He was
thinking make plays for teammates and played his pivot game
at the end of drives, and you know, his physicaluit enforce. Yeah,
it didn't show up in Massive Box Score numbers, but
but he he had a he had a terrific game
for us, and uh, you know the best thing for
mo Is. You know, we were at a huddle and
it was a part of the game where there was

(09:07):
a little bit of frustration going on and and we
go to break the huddle and you know has happened
sometimes guys are all lost in a stuff and more
called him. I was like, hey, get your hand in
this huddle and let's go. And you know, the more
he brings leadership to us like that down the stretch
is going to be really important. He was terrific.

Speaker 4 (09:24):
He and and Denzel are two of your guys that
have been through a lot of big time games. At
Denzel going to the title last year and uh Mo
to the final four of the year before. I would
think that in this time of year, that and that
kind of thing helps.

Speaker 2 (09:41):
Yeah, you know, bring up Denzel. He really carried us
through the whole in the last ten minutes of the
first half and and really most of the game had
had had his best game and return in several weeks.
He's a five to O and and shot it terrific
with three point line. Uh and was was really actually
really really terrific with it very for the little defensive
assignment in terms of having to guard Michi, and so

(10:04):
he had a great all around game. You know, certainly
for us was the player of the game and it
was outstanding.

Speaker 4 (10:10):
All Right, We're going to get to a break and
then we'll come back start to get to work into
some of your questions. Join us for Countdown to tip Off,
presented by Jack Burford Chevrolet covers a Kentucky in vanderwil
begins at twelve thirty Eastern on Saturday with a two
pm tip from down at rapp Arena here on the
UK Sports Network.

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Once again, thank you to our official cornerstone partners who
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of time.

Speaker 4 (13:34):
Welcome back into the show. You can text in your
questions for Coach foxe to eight five nine two three
one two three four on the Clark's Pumpin' Shop text line.
You can also post questions on x it's at UK
Sports Network. Fifth Any UK Baseball leading eight to two
over Western Kentucky and they have a home series coming
up against Saint John's this weekend. UK women's basketball on

(13:57):
the road to Auburn tomorrow night, before they close out
the regular season at home against number three South Carolina
on Sunday afternoon time for our Alumni Hall Fan question
of the week, we'll tell this one out to Coach
Pope and then we'll invite you guys to respond and
you could win a gift card from our friends at
Alumni Hall if you get chosen. At Alumni Hall UK

(14:18):
is where you can chime in with your answers. What's
the key to evening the score with the Vanderbilt Commodorees
when you get the rematch on Saturday afternoon?

Speaker 2 (14:27):
Okay, first, what is this? What is this young lady's name? Adeline?
I mean she is fantala is she Adelin just walked
up with two balls, so cute to get him signed.
She's two years older. She's got the greatest are those Disneyland?
Oh come on, daughters, greatest ever?

Speaker 4 (14:49):
Aren't they great?

Speaker 2 (14:50):
Vanderbilt Commodorees. Yeah, they are just physical. They're so physical.
They are so physical and gritty. They're you know, line essentially,
they're playing you know, three undersized fives or oversized threes
at the three, four and five. They got unbelievable toughness.

(15:11):
They just move bodies there every every second of every possession,
there's contact and collisions. Uh they you know, they they
really man handled us down there. It's gonna be a
real test of how our team has grown since they're
uh to see if we can match their physicality. But
that's where the game will start. And then you know, schematically,
they have some some incredibly talented players and uh, they'll

(15:34):
play with pace. Uh, they move the ball, they could
shoot the ball. Really one through five A good team,
and it's gonna be a great challenge, a great It's
gonna be a great game outsidey and.

Speaker 4 (15:43):
They're a little different in that. Duke Miles, he's back
for them now. He missed the game you guys played
down there.

Speaker 2 (15:49):
Duke's probably their best defensive player. Uh, he's he's been
their leading scorer I think, on and off through throughout
the course of the season. Was out for for maybe
three or four weeks. But is you know, played at
Oklahoma last year and had a great year last year,
and it is a terrific player. So, like I said,
big time matchup.

Speaker 4 (16:07):
All right, let's get to a few questions from fans.
The first one is asking you to comment about rebounding
and defense. We talked about defense already, but the rebounding
was a massive part of the win last night.

Speaker 2 (16:19):
Yeah, the glass is a place where South Carolina has struggled.
They're making a big push, a big emphasis to be
more competitive on the glass, and I thought our guys
did a great job really being on attack the whole night.
On both ends. We out rebounded by twenty which was
really important in a game where we were not great offensively.

(16:44):
I thought, you know, it made a huge difference that
we just earned ourselves extra possessions. Malachi Moreno was unbelievable
in the glass on the defensive glass. Brandon Garrison helped
us on the old boards. AJ helped us on the
old boards. Our tip game was good. You know, we
keep three stats that we think, you know, we've never

(17:05):
lost a game when we've checked three boxes. And those
three boxes are this eleven or less turnovers, holding a
team to thirty nine percent or under from the field
for the game, and out rebounding a team on both
the offensive and defensive glass. And if we if we
can achieve those three markers, we're gonna win every game.

(17:29):
In fact, really, if we could just manage our turnovers,
that's been an almost blemishless marker of our wins and
losses if we keep it under eleven. So far this season,
we've only won two games where we've been over eleven
and but but we we accomplished two of those goals.
We we held them to thirty nine percent or under
from the field, and we out rebound on the offensive

(17:51):
defensive glass. And when we do that, there's a great
chance that we're gonna come away with a win.

Speaker 4 (17:54):
We spent a long time by chatting about turnovers in
a pregame yesterday and then we're fifteen last night. What
did you And it's in fifty six in the last
four games. But you've had stretches where you've had multiple
games under ten. So what are you seeing that's happening
now that needs to get better?

Speaker 2 (18:10):
Well, there's times where you know in this in this
game in particular, Uh, there were there were a lot
of issues for us. You know, we didn't respond to
to decision to make on a short roll.

Speaker 12 (18:20):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (18:20):
They they've really crowded the paint a lot. They were
they were hard showing on ball screens and and really
packing the paint with three defenders. And we chose some
one on twos and one on three situations where we
weren't great. Sometimes ago a ball got a little sticky
for us. Sometimes it was a ball strong issue. We

(18:40):
had too many guys with with three turnovers that you know,
that's uncharacterists for us. You know, it wasn't a great
one for A J. Malachi. We had a couple of
illegal screens, which has been very I don't actually can't
remember a game where we had more than one illegal screen,
So that was a little bit new on the whistle
for us. So there was some offensive thousan involved. You know.

(19:02):
It was a lot of different things that that our guys.
Some of them are fixable and some of them are
just full of the game. But it's a It's an
area that we work on every single day.

Speaker 4 (19:13):
If you have a question for Coach Hope, you can
text it in and the Clark's Pumping Shop text nine
eight five nine two oh three one two three four
or post it on x It's at UK Sports Network.

Speaker 16 (19:23):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (19:23):
Don't have a name on this one, but Lister wants
to know if Malachi knows who Artist Gilmore is. I'm
assuming to hone in on some of those skills. I
don't know, but Artists was was almost one of a kind.

Speaker 2 (19:35):
Yeah, he was. Uh, and and you know what, I
would guess that Malachi does know who Artist Gilmore is.
We forget how young these guys are. There are several
guys on my team who I would be willing to
bet would not know Artist Gilmore, But but Mallley's a
pretty good student of the game. I think he.

Speaker 4 (19:52):
Would he he was one of the best. He would
He played for the Colonels of course here and uh.
When I would watch him play, his hand were so big.
When he would post up, he'd hold the ball out
and it looked like a tennis ball in his hand.

Speaker 2 (20:05):
Maley was great. He was great. It was just last night.
Maley was great last night. You know. He had a
bunch of defensive rebounds where he was one on two
and one on three and actually came up with with
huge defensive rebounds. He kind of show us up. He
also had a couple of massive room protection plays he had.
He had one baseline he was a he was the
second defender on a baseline drive and he just swallowed

(20:28):
up illegally. He was really good protecting the rim. And
he continues to impress. He just you know, he's he
is on his way to growing into a a just
a terrific, terrific force. And you get to see little
slices of that I think every single game where he's
given us something a little bit new, that he's doing

(20:49):
well and learning a lot along the way.

Speaker 4 (20:51):
Yeah, I continue to be amaze the fact that, I mean,
he had three turnovers last night that was uncharacteristic. I
don't doubt there's more than a handful at most of
freshmen fives in the country that have something close to
a two to one assistant turnover.

Speaker 2 (21:04):
That's really and especially they'd have the burden you sometimes
as a post player, you're not asked to handle the
ball a little bit, so you can just care. But
we're asking him to make decisions and be a be
a passer and a playmaker.

Speaker 4 (21:16):
And he's done terrific something you with respect to his
rim protection, and you've mentioned this before, I think in
our pregames, but it's maybe a different audience here. You
talked about the value of the stat of rim protection,
how it correlates to wins.

Speaker 2 (21:29):
Yep, Yeah, it's actually uh so last season in college basketball,
rim shot percentage defense was the number one correlating factor
to winning basketball games. Now, again, like all analytics, there's
you know, you can tell a lot of different stories
to that, but but there's got to be one number
one correlating factor and that's it, and so it matters.

(21:51):
And it's a place where we've made massive progress defensively
from last year. And you know, right now we're sitting
I think is the third or fourth best defensive team
in the SEC and that's been a big part of it.

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Speaker 17 (23:19):
What does being part of this community mean to Coach
Mark Pope?

Speaker 2 (23:23):
For me, being part of this community means having common goals,
working together to achieve those goals to make things better
for everyone around you. Central Bank's been doing that since
nineteen forty six.

Speaker 6 (23:38):
Central Bank is proud to be part of this community
and proud to be the official bank of UK Athletics.

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(24:15):
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Speaker 4 (24:29):
Welcome back into the Show, Kentucky and Vanderbilt on Saturday
is presented by Keeenland. Join us for live racing at
Keeenland Spring Meet starting April third, continuing through April twenty fourth.
We are chatting with Coach Pope and we're taking your
questions on the Clark's Pumping Shop text line eight five
nine two oh three one two three four, or you
can post them on x at UK Sports Network. Here's

(24:52):
one about no name on this one, but any chance
of a plan for a summer trip it's been four years.

Speaker 2 (25:00):
Yeah, we actually interesting enough. We we we do have
something in the works. We have a group that's come
to us and and has invited us on a what
I think would be an epic foreign tour. So and
so we're we're in the works of trying to see

(25:20):
if that can become a reality. But it's it's so
good for teams, it's an unbelievable experience for these young people.
It helps bind your team together, so we're excited about it.
We haven't quite got across the finish line, but I
think it would be uh in somewhere that I've never
been that I would absolutely love to go visit and
spend some time. So we'll see.

Speaker 4 (25:41):
Okay, this is one about off the court that notes
Indiana recently made plans to hire a GM out of
the NBA. Do you see yourself going in the direction
of a general manager for your program?

Speaker 2 (25:53):
Yeah, it's that's that's been an ongoing conversation for us,
and and we've had a lot of conversations trying to
find exactly the space that will work best for us.
But you know, as everybody figures this out, that is
certainly a direction that some teams have gone with with

(26:16):
really incredibly varied levels of success. So it's something that
we're probably having conversations about on a weekly basis.

Speaker 4 (26:23):
From Matt watching the game last night, he thought he
saw some bad body language at times speaking to frustration.
Did you see that? And how do you keep guys upbeat?

Speaker 2 (26:35):
It was insan. I've actually felt worse during the game
than I did watch in the film, which is which
is was pleasant. They're definitely you know, this was not
our best decision making game on the offensive end, and
I think for sure there were some moments of frustration there.
With that said, you know, minus a couple of poor

(26:56):
decisions on the defensive end, the guys were really invested,
they were really energy, they were really committed, and so
you know, the guys, you know, you're at the point
of the season. If you watch college basketball right now,
you're seeing some really surprising outcomes. You always do the
last two weeks of February always because guys have been

(27:17):
pushing hard for so long, and you know, some teams
are dealing with injuries, some teams are dealing with you know,
negative results, some teams are dealing with issues about you know,
all the issues that come up, you know, before the
end of the season in terms of what's going to
happen next year. There's all those things that are happening
to teams. And so you see some some crazy results

(27:39):
and in that environment on the road in the sec
after an incredibly incredibly emotional game just essentially forty eight
hours earlier. I thought our guys were great. I was
really proud of how they responded, but far from perfect,
But I was really really proud of the way they
stayed together and the way they competed against a team
that was coming off of a great win just two

(28:01):
days earlier.

Speaker 4 (28:02):
This felt like just from you know, having been around
a lot of teams for a long time, felt like
a situation because of the circumstances you were talking about
where it was going to be more of a game
where it was not going to be the best effort
or the best execution. You just were gonna have to
get through it and find a way. And then maybe
that can kind of open up some some new feelings

(28:25):
moving forward.

Speaker 2 (28:25):
If you've been around this game for a long time,
you can feel that, you can feel when you're just
in that space of and like I said, it's all
the factors we just talked about. You're coming off an
incredibly incredibly emotional loss and a little bit of a skid,
you know, really really really down bodies on the road
again back to back, you know, two times, and like

(28:47):
and like I said, three days and and you put
all in a great league against a team that's finally
seen some great results a couple of days earlier, and
and so you put all that stuff to other. And
it's just begging for uh to to be an uncharacteristic
game that our guys battle through all that like they
usually do, and and and found a way to get

(29:08):
us a positive result.

Speaker 4 (29:09):
What do you say in the course of a game
to guys that you know are good shooters, they didn't
go down? Like last night Yellow was getting shots that
were open and he was shooting forty percent a sec
play going into last night on threes, so he'd been
making them and yet didn't make them last night.

Speaker 2 (29:25):
Two words, shoot it, keep shooting. Shoot it.

Speaker 4 (29:28):
You sound like the guy I was sitting next to
say the same thing.

Speaker 2 (29:31):
Shoot it. It's uh. You know, we when we earn
great shots, we shoot them. And and then the way
we we we don't moderate our shots. We work harder
on the offensive class. And that's been a growing process
for our team. You know, I have met It's so
fun because these seasons are they're like eternities and and
everybody wants to make a you know, a concluding statement

(29:53):
on your team and you're your roster and everything else,
and and people saying, ah, this team can't shoot, they
can't shoot, they cant shoot with the best three point
shooting team in the in the league. We could shoot.
We just got to keep shooting and and and that's
you know, that's a that's a part of this game.
That's beautiful and there's some you know you. Confidence is

(30:14):
gained through making shots. Confidence is also gained through missing
a shot. And everybody in our team look at you
dead in the eye and saying shoot the next one.
That's actually a bigger pull. Confidence has gained as a
shooter when you you you miss one or two or
three and guys are still in your corner. That's where
like the biggest confidence come from in terms of your

(30:36):
relationships with your team and and it pays off, and
it certainly is for our guys.

Speaker 4 (30:40):
I don't know if you track this step, but I
do know Goose of that Tod think when watching games
that when somebody passes one up that's open and it's
in rhythm, that it never seems to end well in
that possession.

Speaker 2 (30:50):
Yes, you know, and and I actually, I mean I
didn't learn that lesson in college because because we were
all so terrified as coach that we were gonna shoot
it every single time. I really learned that lesson in
my tenure in the league and actually when I was young,
my actually my rookie season, I had just a devastating

(31:11):
experience with Larry Bird, who was my coach, where I
turned down a shot at the end of a game.
And at some point I'll tell the story in length,
but you learn pretty quickly in that league that when
you finally earn a good one, you have to take
it because you're not going to get a better look,
and it disrupts the flow. It puts guys in a

(31:33):
much more difficult situation. You earn open shots, you gotta
take them.

Speaker 4 (31:37):
Watch BBN Tonight, presented by UK Healthcare, every weeknight at
seven thirty on WLX here in Lexington. You can watch
archived shows at Bbntoonight dot com. Get to a Break,
It's the Mark Pope Show, presented by UK Healthcare and
we hope to hear from Darius Miller when we come
right back here. On the UK Sports Network.

Speaker 1 (31:54):
Unlocked exclusive coverage of UK Athletics with UKSN all Access.
From behind the scenes content to game day coverage. It's
all in one place. Find it on the UK Athletics
app or Uksnallaccess dot com.

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Stay connected to the Cats with that Big Blue Broop,
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Speaker 4 (35:02):
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each week we do a segment with a former Kentucky
player and next up we have a gentleman who doesn't

(35:24):
have a lot of members in the club that he's
in because he was the mister basketball in the state
of Kentucky. He won a state championship at Mason County
and he won a national championship in twenty twelve with
the University of Kentucky, and he was I'm sure probably
on the All Smile team if they had one of those.
Darius Miller, welcome to the program.

Speaker 2 (35:43):
You doing.

Speaker 22 (35:44):
I appreciate you guys having me on.

Speaker 2 (35:46):
Thank you for joining us, Darius Didgit first of all,
thanks for coming on, man, and thanks for being a
Kentucky legend. Seriously, did you ever get tired of winning?

Speaker 8 (35:58):
Oh?

Speaker 4 (36:00):
It's the main objective. Oh, I feel like it gets
lost from time to time, but.

Speaker 15 (36:05):
That's always the main objective.

Speaker 6 (36:06):
And I'm I'm playing with.

Speaker 13 (36:08):
Some really good teams.

Speaker 4 (36:09):
I was.

Speaker 22 (36:09):
I was blessed and fortunate, so I had a lot
of fun winning a lot of games.

Speaker 2 (36:15):
My goodness, that's so great.

Speaker 4 (36:18):
Twelve hundred and forty eight career points, number thirty four
of the all time list. Also, it says here you're
a girl dad like the gentleman to my left.

Speaker 22 (36:28):
Definitely, I take a lot of pride in that.

Speaker 2 (36:31):
Jerry's tell about your daughters, man, tell us how old
are they? What are they in too? Talk to us.

Speaker 22 (36:38):
They're into soccer right now.

Speaker 2 (36:41):
Both of the girls are into soccer. So we're running
around throughout the week.

Speaker 22 (36:44):
On the weekends, going to soccer games. But it's a
lot of fun, you know, seeing them grow and develop
a passion for something. It's fun to see their personality
and confidence grow inside of that.

Speaker 2 (36:55):
So it's it's amazing to witness.

Speaker 4 (36:58):
I'm having a lot of fun being.

Speaker 2 (37:00):
The other side, Darius. How are you on the sidelines?
What's your deal? Are you quiet and reserved? Are you
going crazy? Are you getting into it with the other
parents or the referees? How do you roll?

Speaker 16 (37:13):
Normally pretty quiet?

Speaker 2 (37:15):
I'm normally pretty quiet.

Speaker 22 (37:16):
We normally talk about it, like on the way home
in the car, trying to get it out of the
system pretty quick after the game. I don't want to
be moving in just still really young, you know, so
I try to stay quiet. I get pretty for the
emotional over there, but I don't.

Speaker 2 (37:31):
I don't say too much until we get, you know,
to the car and everything. Good for you.

Speaker 4 (37:36):
Man, Hey, Darius, there was a couple of stories from
your playing days. We'll we'll talk about a little bit.
One of them was in your senior season. You guys
are playing down in New Orleans, if memory serves, in
the SEC Championship game, and I think you were maybe
a little bit of a shooting slump or something at
that moment, and the story was that Michael kick Gilchrist

(37:59):
went to Cal and said that he thought you needed
to go into the starting lineup to get yourself going
for the next tournament that was coming.

Speaker 20 (38:07):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (38:08):
Is that how it played out? And if so, how
significant was that for you?

Speaker 6 (38:14):
Yeah, That's definitely how it played out.

Speaker 22 (38:16):
And Mike was so he was so selfless man, he
was such a great teammate, And Uh, that that did
a lot from the team, not just me. I think
it kind of showed everybody was just sold on winning,
you know what I mean. And for him to be
a freshman, the number two pick in the draft, for
him to do something like that, it just meant a
lot to me. It got this all motivated, so, you know,

(38:37):
to completely buy in, which we were already wearing. That
was just a little bit of icing on the cake,
you know, and everybody locked in to winning the championship.
But I think that was kind of a little push
for us there towards the end of the season that
it gave us a lot of momentum that got us.

Speaker 2 (38:52):
Over the pump.

Speaker 4 (38:54):
There's another one. I was looking back at Your All's
twenty eleven season when you made it to the final
four down in Houston. You were m VP of the
SEC Tournament that year. But before you got to the postseason.
On February the twenty third, I looked this up. You
guys lost to Arkansas and had a seven and six
league record at that point, and you didn't lose again

(39:17):
until the final four. Was like ten in a row.
So what was it? That was a season you guys
were having trouble winning close games and then it flipped
and you didn't lose a close game. What got that
team going?

Speaker 22 (39:31):
I think me and DeAndre we had to step up,
I think a little bit, and it took us a
while to all and recognize our roles. We have some
crazy talent on that team, Brandon Knight, Karon Jones, Darron Lamb.

Speaker 23 (39:45):
You know, some really really great players and especially great scores.
But me and DeAndre had to figure out our role
kind of step up, especially like you were talking about
in those late moments, we kind of needed guy to
step up in make plays. They were keying in on
branding a lot, so we were the older guys.

Speaker 22 (40:06):
We need to see those guys, and fortunately we were
able to do that. We kind of gained some momentum
for that. I remember that Arkansaw game. We had a
rough game, and then he kind of talked to it
as a team, made a commitment, me and him as
leaders and older guys, and it kind of helped turn
us around.

Speaker 2 (40:27):
Such a great story.

Speaker 4 (40:28):
I remember that the game out at Arkansas, I turned
to Mike Pratty was broadcast part of the time, and
Brandon missed a little runner on the baseline that would
have won the game or sent it over time. I
forget which, and I said, you know, Mike, maybe it's
just not going to happen for this group this year.
And then you guys say, didn't didn't lose again for
the next ten games. So it can happen at any point,

(40:49):
can it?

Speaker 6 (40:51):
Definitely?

Speaker 2 (40:52):
You know?

Speaker 22 (40:52):
And it only takes like one moment, you know what
I mean, one thing to change, and how everybody's looking
at it, the commitment that everybody is putting into it,
and then of course, you know, everybody wants to be
committed to give their own at all times.

Speaker 23 (41:04):
The life happens, and you know, there's roller coasters throughout
the seasons and ups.

Speaker 22 (41:07):
And downs, but all the things is one moment to
kind of lock everybody in and Gallvin down is everybody
to lock in on the championship. And that's that's what
you need, you know, that momentum at the right point.

Speaker 23 (41:17):
Of the season and change everything.

Speaker 22 (41:20):
And that's kind of what happened for us that that
junior my junior.

Speaker 2 (41:24):
Season, there's what a what an unbelievable career. Man, Just
just thanks for representing this place so incredibly well. And
also after you left, what you did professionally in your
time at Kentucky. And it might have been one of
the ones Tom has already brought up, But is there
a moment, just a moment that is like the moment

(41:46):
that you think about a very specific moment. Is there
a moment that could encapsulate your whole tenure here? Uh?

Speaker 22 (41:53):
Yeah, it might have been that moment. He was just
talking about my junior year because we I was struggling
person personally leading up to that game. I had a
shot laid in that game that I turned down. I
thought it was for a better look, but to think so,
you know, so that kind of forced me to kind
of re evaluate how I was playing, making commitment to myself,

(42:17):
kind of look in the mirror a little bit and
get back into lab and so like that, that kind
of change, you know, my trajectory as a as a player,
because I talk to me, My teammates talked to me,
and that could have been a moment where I either
shut down or folded a little bit. And I think
it really motivated me so to put more work in

(42:39):
because I had guys around me that was doing their part,
you know what I mean, and I needed to step up,
especially like I said earlier, being the older guy. And yeah,
it just happened to work out so good.

Speaker 4 (42:51):
Darius, really appreciate you joining us. Best of luck with
the young ladies in sports, and we we'll see it up.

Speaker 2 (42:59):
I'm sure.

Speaker 3 (43:01):
You appreciate you.

Speaker 4 (43:03):
That is Darius Miller. One of my best memories of
him is stepping off that bus carry the national championship trophy.
Come on, a pretty nice memory. We've had former players
on here, either phone or in person. Guy we had
in person last month. Eric Daniels just named co coach
of the Year in the eleventh Regent Let's.

Speaker 2 (43:19):
Go Yes, Way to Go coach.

Speaker 4 (43:21):
Way to Go and his team at Dunbar won their
district tournament game last night, so they will play for
the district championship on Friday nights. So congrats to Ed.
We're gonna be right back and continue on the Bark
Pope Show, presented about UK healthcare here on the UK
Sports Network.

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Speaker 4 (45:48):
When we finish up here on the Mark Pope Show,
hang around for the Kenny Brooks Show. It's presented by
Bluegrass Hearing Clinic goes from seven to seven thirty Eastern,
followed by bb AND Radio presented by Clarks Pump and
Shop with Darren Hendrick and Darren's guest for the show
tonight will be Andrew Cappus UK baseball playing right now
the UK women's basketball team at auburnamorrow night and the

(46:10):
Senior day Sunday against South Carolina at Historic Memorial Coliseum.
Time for the BBN United Fan Question. It comes from
Reid in Henderson, Kentucky, asks you, coach, how do you
handle the stress and pressure of being the Kentucky coach
and balanced that with the responsibilities of being a husband
and a dad.

Speaker 2 (46:31):
Well, first of all, being that coach a Kentucky is
like the greatest blessing in the world. And so the
you know, the pressure is such a privilege. It is
such an honor. You know, we say that all the
time pressure is a privilege. The day that that we're
not under pressure is going to be a really sad day.
And so I love every bit of that. And and
you know, the way we did in our family is

(46:52):
this is a family operation. You know, I was so blessed.
My second oldest daughter, Avery, for example, just has been
out of the country for the last you know, year
and a half, and she just came with me on
the road trip to to South Carolina. And so the
girls are you know, Leanne is so un she is

(47:15):
she just there's no words for her. And she just
makes this a family affair and and and so it's
something we share. When I'm at basketball, I'm not away
from the girls. We're just kind of doing it all
together and the in the ways we can. And and
then the girls are also going on and pursuing unbelievable
things in their own life. But that's all all credit
for that goes to Leanne.

Speaker 4 (47:34):
And she of course grew up in a basketball family.

Speaker 2 (47:36):
Here, Yes she did. She did. And like I've always said,
you know, it's it's sometimes it's tough to face the players,
the media, the fans after the game. There's nobody tougher
than facing the Pope girls after the game when they
finally get there sitting down, it gets real.

Speaker 4 (47:50):
Uh. That question comes from Reid BBN United member. Bb
in United is the official fan membership platform for UK
athletics sporting student athletes, getting fans exclude sive access premium content.
Check it out at bbnunited dot com. From Chuck, how
do you get Malachi to rip the backboard off every
time when he goes to the hole?

Speaker 2 (48:11):
That's a learning process. It's also a strength and balance
process as a spacing process. And it's a confidence issue.
And when I say that Malachi is breming with confidence,
he's breming with talent. But that's just that there's there's
pieces of that. You know, sometimes it's the right play
is not to actually be violent at the rim. As
you see Malachi develop, he's going to avoid a lot

(48:33):
of contact situations as he gets more and more comfortable
with quicks and and floaters. That's a real part of
the game. But he is, you know what, I've been
really pleased with him. You know, he didn't really get
a bunch of post action against South Carolina, but he
got some post possessions at Auburn where he just he

(48:56):
just buried his his defender against Tennessee at home, you know,
he got beat up pretty pretty good against Tennessee on
the road and against Tennessee and at home, like he
was so physical and forceful and just moving bodies. He's
growing into that space way faster than I imagined he

(49:16):
would for a guy his size. That's you know, he's
he's not bulky, he's but he is strong, and a
lot of guys in our league can get underneath him.
Maybe I have low center of gravity, but he he is.
He is moving everybody on the court. He had one
of the best celsists in a very crucial moment. We

(49:38):
ran kind of appeal reject action for Otega late in
the game against South Carolina, and and Malak had one
of the great seal assists I've ever seen, just demonstrating
his physicality. So it's fun to watch him grow and
and he brings length and a rim protection and a
physicality intelligence the game that's really special.

Speaker 4 (49:58):
You ran a pick and roll with him out of
a time out that got.

Speaker 2 (50:00):
Big basket, yep, yep, yep.

Speaker 4 (50:03):
And one thing he did he added last night. Hadn't
seen this one before. Maybe he does it in practice.
Melvin Turpin, one of the great big men here, had
a fantastic little turnaround jumper off the baseline down there
around the block, and he did that last night. Didn't
make the shot, but that was something new.

Speaker 2 (50:19):
Yep. I'm still pushing him early on in his care
to be stubborn, stubborn, stubborn to the middle. When he
does that, he moves everybody. South Carolina was actually just
sitting a second defendant in the lane, and so we've
kind of missed some flair actions on the weak side.
But uh man, it's like, what a gift to have
a young guy like mal Camarino that that takes representing

(50:40):
University Kentucky so seriously, that is so full of talent,
that's so intelligent, that cares so much about this community
and the people in it. And to be able to
watch him grow at such a rate, it's it's it's
just fun for all of us more.

Speaker 4 (50:53):
With Coach Pope when we return. It's presented by UK
Healthcare right here on the UK Sports.

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(51:18):
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Please enjoy responsibly.

Speaker 16 (51:28):
Are you paying a premium for road side assistance or
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feel more expensive? Well, how do you get ahead when
everything keeps costing more?

Speaker 2 (51:38):
Well?

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get more value for your money, including twenty four to
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Visit us online or stop buy a branch.

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To learn more.

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Speaker 25 (52:00):
Looking to get closer to the teams, coaches and student
athletes you love. It's time to go all in with
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and show off your pride With a BBN United membership,
you'll be invited to watch exclusive player and coach content,
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(52:22):
bbnunited dot com. UK Athletics Official fan Loyalty program where
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Speaker 8 (52:29):
Oh right, all right, it's a beautiful day for football
here at the stadium and we're just about ready for kickoff,
score zero zero And suddenly I'm in the mood for
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(52:50):
spot when it comes to great taste. Coke zero sugar
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Speaker 7 (52:58):
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(53:20):
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Speaker 5 (53:25):
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Speaker 13 (53:29):
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(53:51):
retailer or online today. Visit Kylottery dot com for game details.
Please play responsibly, Kentucky, Remember it's just a game.

Speaker 4 (54:10):
Subscribe to the Kentucky Basketball Podcast. It is presented by
UK Federal Credit Union and it is available for free
on Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Spotify and the official UK Athletics app.
And we have one segment left here with Coach Pope.
If you have a question, there's time to send it
in on the Clark's Pump and Shop text line eight

(54:31):
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you can post on x at UK Sports Network.

Speaker 2 (54:38):
Let's get to a we just lost a light. I
don't know if you get if anybody's watching live, we
just went we went dark. It's actually very exciting.

Speaker 4 (54:48):
And now it's back.

Speaker 2 (54:49):
I can see the light.

Speaker 4 (54:52):
Last week you talked about this, and for any of
the folks that are audience or people have listened didn't
catch it, you had a encouraging up. I guess maybe
it's the word on Cam Williams and his recovery from
his surgery.

Speaker 2 (55:03):
Yeah, Cam is, Cam is out of his boot and
he was actually on the court today shooting like four
foot shots stationary. I don't know if that was legal, U,
but he is. You know, of course he's eager, eager
to get back. He's still a ways away and there's
still a lot of question marks with how fast we

(55:25):
can go, but but man, he's anxious to kind of
jump back in this.

Speaker 4 (55:28):
I tell you, if Jalen Low could get time to
load up the one handed, left handed shot and watching
him on trips and shoot around said he hits that
thing at a very high rate.

Speaker 2 (55:39):
Yes she does. I don't think we're gonna get him back,
but I'm not saying it's impossible because I believe in miracles,
So we'll see how that goes too. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (55:49):
Probably we're probably not counting on that one though, and
speak you that gives us a seg We're talk a
little bit about Denzel earlier, but this was a new
role for him to have to fully embrace you. I'm
sure maybe thought play a little point guard like he
did last year when Clayton went out at Florida, but
didn't expect to be the guy.

Speaker 2 (56:05):
And he's not.

Speaker 4 (56:07):
He's finding his own version of being a point guard.
But it's working really well.

Speaker 9 (56:11):
Man.

Speaker 2 (56:12):
Listen, it's not fair to him. Actually, it's not what
he signed up for. You know, he played, he played backup.
He was a backup combo guard at Florida, so he
would come off the bench and he started a few
games at point it was really good. But for most
of this season came off the bench and ran the point,
played some too, and if you asked him, he would say,

(56:33):
my job was to go get buckets. And so that
was the way he played the point, combo guard, two
guard at Florida last year. And so he's been thrown
into a situation now as a starting point guard where
he has to organize an entire team and be conscious
of how all the pieces are fitting together, and how
he's distributing the ball, and how he's incorporating guys in

(56:54):
the offense and making reads and telling guys where to
go and what to do, and directing everything and managing
the flow of the game. And for him to be
a you know, to put put together a game like
he did last night where he's five oh fifty percent
from the field, it really carries the load. It's just
as it's pretty awesome and I could I could be
more proud of We knew, uh, we knew that he

(57:17):
was a really special young man. He's he's he's been,
you know, had the biggest challenge of his lifetime placed
in front of him. He's doing an unbelievable job answering
the bell.

Speaker 4 (57:25):
Yeah, I think he's been underappreciated, given the attention to
Tea gets with the numbers he's put up and all
the big shots, Collins hitting that, Denzel gets a little overlooked.

Speaker 2 (57:33):
I think that's at a step back three in the
second half last night. That was world class. I mean,
he just is. He's making plays for us, and he's
doing in a spectacular way.

Speaker 4 (57:42):
Thank you. Much thanks guys, Cats and Vandy and to
Eastern On Saturday, It's on ESPN. It'll also of course
be a UK radio network. Our coverage will start ninety
minutes ahead of tip off. Here are the UK Sports Center.

Speaker 6 (57:55):
This has been a Mark Pope Show presented by UK Healthcare,
the UK Sports Network. The Mark Tope Show was brought
to you by Coca Cola, Appalachian Regional Healthcare.

Speaker 5 (58:07):
Little Caesars and by UK Healthcare. We are here to
win Banners. Kentucky Basketball is a presentation of the UK
Sports Network. Let's Go Cats, powered by JMI Sports