‘I just hope you guys know how much I love you.’
The Kentucky Wildcats and coach Mark Pope got their first true road win of the season on Saturday night in Starkville — the second one if you want to count winning in Seattle against Gonzaga…I won’t fight you on that one — in a much-needed win to right the ship and silence some critics after the Wildcats fell in Athens last Tuesday night.
After the game Saturday night, Mark Pope met with the media and revealed that Amari Williams gave a passionate speech prior to the Cats taking the floor in a hostile Humphrey Coliseum.
“Amari Williams is an incredibly special young man. He’s got a heart that is probably three times the size of a normal human’s heart,” said Pope. “He loves our guys, and he loves this team. You feel it. He’s got this protective thing where he wants to take care of our guys. He wants to fight for our guys.
“He did the pregame speech today. It was only two sentences. The first was, ‘I just hope you guys know how much I love you.’ You could feel it in the locker room, man. I got emotional because I know how much he loves us, and I know how much we love him. When you have a team that’s put together that way — that wears Kentucky across their chest, these guys are going to come fight for you.
“We’re not going to be perfect. We’re going to have hard times, for sure. But these guys want to represent Kentucky. They want it so bad. They want to take care of each other so badly. It makes it fun to coach, man.”
Williams finished the game with 10 points, 12 rebounds, and six assists — possibly his best overall game in a Kentucky uniform.
You can watch the full video here:
Take a minute and 13 seconds out of your day to listen to this pic.twitter.com/p3zIguR26v
— UK Sports Network (@UKSportsNetwork) January 12, 2025
‘Like’ our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter. And Go Cats!!!