Mark Pope and Wildcats recap dominant win over Lipscomb, plus postgame notes

The Cats continue to have an impressive start to the 2024-25 college basketball season.

The Kentucky Wildcats are 4-0 after a dominating 97-68 win over the Lipscomb Bisons.

After drilling 12/25 attempts from deep, this became the first Kentucky team ever to make at least 10 3s in the first four games of a regular season.

That’s how special this group has been thus far, but the season is still very young, so there’s plenty of work left to be done.

After the game, head coach Mark Pope and select players met with the media to discuss win No. 4. Here is a recap of what they had to say via UK Athletics.

MARK POPE: Okay. Terrific night of basketball. This Lipscomb team is really good. They are really disciplined. They somehow managed to push the ball really hard in transition and then grind it out at half court, that’s a hard thing to put together and they are incredibly well coached. Lennie has been doing a great job for a long time. He’s a terrific–terrific coach. And you can see it. I don’t know if we’ll play teams that are this committed and disciplined to the way they play very much. It posed a real challenge. I thought our guys were great, I thought they really competed. For the most part, I thought we had pretty good results.

Q Mark, with a team this old, what was your anxiety level like this week in terms of a letdown after such an emotional game with Duke?

MARK POPE: You know, it’s interesting. We had this conversation earlier today with the broadcast team. We don’t stress, like we don’t get nervous, we don’t worry because it doesn’t actually work. You know, sometimes we think if a team has a letdown after a big win, it’s like, oh man, if the coach had just thought about the possibility of it being a letdown and prepared this team for no letdown, it wouldn’t have happened. What happens is we all just overkill, right? We just start pushing that narrative so hard with our team. We don’t actually do it at all. We are always going to be focused on what we need to do. And so, we really work hard. It’s human nature to worry about that a little bit. We really work hard to focus on what we are trying to do. Our guys are really hungry to get better, we are hungry to become a great team. We don’t have a lot of time to do it. So, you know, the last game was over and it was kind of onto like, how can we get better? How can we get better? That’s the only thing we talk about. And the biology of that, the neuroscience of that is 100% in support of that. Right? You know, we are not going to focus on what we don’t want to have happen, we are going to focus on what we do want to have happen. And our guys have received that really well. We did not spend much time on that at all, and we won’t, that’s not the way we do it. That doesn’t mean we won’t ever have bad results. It just means that we are going to always focus on what we are trying to do and we are going to try to be laser focused on that. We are not going to spend a lot of time thinking about what we do not want to have happen.

Q Mark, I know you obviously had no offensive concerns with Jaxson (Robinson) after the Duke game. Can you speak to how much he’s grown over the last 2.5 years since you’ve known him. Is he a guy that maybe you had two years, you know, step in and say something to after a game like that when you just don’t worry about it now?

MARK POPE: Yeah, I mean I’m so impressed with Jaxson Robinson. What’s really interesting is he had a terrific game against Duke, that’s the weird part, he actually played really well. He came up with massive defensive stops down the stretch that were game determining stops that we really needed. There is a couple of things that we were really impressed about Jaxson and his growth and his maturity is that he wasn’t having a huge impact on the game in the scorebook offensively, although he was having a huge impact gravity wise. It wasn’t the payoff of the scorebook and all of the things. He refused to let that drain his defensive intensity and energy and energy towards his team. Some of my favorite pictures coming out of that game, we get out of these pictures coming at us. It’s like Jaxson Robinson, you know, Andrew Carr gets an and-one and Jaxson is the first guy to be there, just like – screaming, and his veins are popping out of his neck and every bit of emotion is there. The ability he has as a veteran player to stay in the moment, in the game and care about his teammates and still perform at a great level defensively even when he’s not putting up 20 or 30 is a massive – it’s what you dream about coaching, right? It’s going to serve him well this year and is going to serve him great in the NBA. It’s been really inspiring to be able to witness his growth. I don’t know how many times we are going to get to coach players for three years anymore. It’s been unbelievable to coach him for two years and four games and I love it, I’m really proud of him.

Q Coach, Koby Brea continues to shoot the ball at incredible numbers. He does other things, such as seven rebounds tonight, he continues to rebound the ball. Is there any other part of his game you would like to unlock and do you continue to expect him to shoot at such an amazing clip?

MARK POPE: I thought he was great on the glass tonight. It was just seven rebounds, but it was challenged rebounds, physical rebounds, I was really proud of him for that. He ended up with some switched mismatches that he handled really well. I still think he’s got a huge amount of game in his tank on the defensive end in isolation and handling guys one-on-one. Actually, Koby is interesting because sometimes my eyes tricked me and at the end of the game he’s actually got a better defensive package than I thought I saw. With him, I always have to go back to the numbers and just check with my eyes right now as unlearning him as a defensive player. I also think he has a chance to be a terrific playmaker. He’s still learning to get off two feet. He had one opportunity where he shot fake, and drove baseline right in front of our bench where he could see the bottom kind of was there and he bailed out of it. I actually had the confidence in him, I would love him to carve out space, get his shoulder into the hips that he just turned, carve out some space and get all the way to two feet, because he’s really good in there. I would like him to grow in that sense about being able to probe more downhill, more confidently, more off-the-wall creating space. So, I would like him to continue to be a really dangerous, huge energy cutter. He probably doesn’t manufacture as much as he can yet. He’s such a lethal shooter and teams are going to overplay, and overplay, and overplay more and he can really kill teams as a cutter and that’s a place in this game where he’s growing. So, there is a lot of growth for him. He’s putting together a pretty fun product, right? It’s pretty fun. It’s hard, you know. We talked about it. Lipscomb came in having played 34 possessions of zone at a 0.511 points for possession. That’s ridiculous, guys, that’s so good. And so they kind of saved it and went to it in the second half and it was like, you’ve got Koby Brea running around shooting 3s, it’s like we can’t do that. I think we were almost two points per possession, over two points per possession against the zone. He is just a fun player to coach and a beautiful human being.

Q Coach, the other coach for Lipscomb tonight talked about if Lamont Butler is hitting the shots he’s hitting, he said they are going to be unstoppable. He said we tried to play off a little bit, we realized we couldn’t do that. And then you overplay and it leaves other guys open. He said when those guards are playing like that, including Butler, what does it do when Lamont is hitting shots like he was tonight?

MARK POPE: Well, we don’t spend time relying on guys making shots, we rely on them taking them. We were good in a lot of areas on the stat sheet but we only got up 25 3s, that’s not us, that’s not actually who we are supposed to be. Lamont is going to be that way all year. He’s unbelievably solid. If you notice, he shot the ball great for us all camp, he shot it all summer great. He’s a terrific shooter especially what he’s doing now so well is when guys go into ball screens he’s not rushed, he’s actually coming off hard and he’s stopping and it really finding his balance. He knows, right now in our scheme he knows if he stops and gets on balance to shoot it and they close out late, he can play the rifle game and he’s devastating in the rifle game especially when someone is close, because now they are out of the position they have tried to be in the scout. It actually distorts everything you tried to prep in the scout coming to him that he can do that play behind, get his balance and if they close get his rifle game and he ends up playing downhill. He is very confident with that package, he’s always got it at his disposal. He’s getting better and better at it. I was actually pleased with him getting downhill in transition and winning the gap, that was a huge thing and this is a good steals team and I thought he made two incredible plays downhill that I thought were really special where he protected the ball.

Q When you hear that you are the first Kentucky team to make 10 or more 3s in each of your four games in a regular season in the whole history of the school. How does that make you feel, one, and then two, where do you see improvements needed in three-point shooting so far this season?

MARK POPE: Well, when you say that, the first thing I’m disappointed. How did we not make 10 3s a game in 96? What are we doing, guys? I’m going to call the boys, like boys, what are we doing? So that is my first reaction. The second reaction is that’s great. We’re going to have games where we don’t make 10 3s. I’m more worried about the attempts, right? We’ve got to keep pushing the attempts. You know, I’m nitpicking because our guys played terrific tonight. I thought they were great. We only had 10 assists, that’s not us, the ball, you know give credit to Lipscomb, they were really out of help a lot in this game. It ended up with a lot of guys having open shots where they didn’t have to earn it for each other, it was just standing there open and you know, we shot 48% from three. I would like to just get more of them. But I’m proud of that, it’s a really important part of our team. I would be more excited if we were at 35 three-point attempts a game, but I will take the 10 makes for sure.

Q Mark, you talk about only 10 assists, but you only had eight turnovers. I think for a while, in the second half you didn’t have any. What is it about the discipline with a team like that, with the style you play in trying to push it, especially, you know, shooting threes?

MARK POPE: Yeah, I mean, the turnovers is a massive issue for us. I think we had six or seven in the first half. I think we had six, right? And that was not, we weren’t really pleased about that but I thought in the second half we were much, much better. You know, turnover game is a huge, it’s just massively important to the way we play. And we believe that the more aggressive we are, the more attack mode we are, the less turnovers we’re going to have. And then the concepts we’ve talked about altogether several times, about two hands, two feet, and driving lines and keeping KDA’s and all of the concepts that we focus on, simple plays winning gaps was a huge point of emphasis tonight . If you watched the Western Kentucky game, these guys were terrorizing Western Kentucky on drives by getting gap rate steals, right? That’s a huge point of emphasis for our guys. They did that really, really well. You know, us being low on the turnover space is, you know, what happens when we are really aggressive and when we stay aggressive and when our guys are actually in the decision-making mindset rather than the emotional mindset, which we work hard to get to. And so, I’m proud of that, it’s really important. We need to be and under 10 turnover team and that’s got to be a staple of who we are. We’ve been there the last two games and we weren’t against Bucknell and I actually compare this game a little bit to Bucknell because of the changing defense. They didn’t do it a lot but they did a little bit of changing defense. When you face a team that’s doing that sometimes slows you down and it slowed us down against Bucknell. It didn’t slow us down at all tonight. I thought our guys responded well to that. That’s a lot of stuff. But yes, keeping those turnovers under 10 is really important, the way we do it is really important how we play.

Q Actually, this part isn’t a question. But Bucknell being a Bison, and then tonight they are the Bisons. That’s another similarity there. Going back to Lamont and his shooting, you know, he has so many elite skills, but if you just look on paper, his three-point shooting has never been what you would call an elite skill. It’s kind of a two-part question. One, are the numbers there deceiving? Do you think he can, you know eventually become an elite three-point shooter? And two, is there a certain percentage that you’re hoping that he reaches?

MARK POPE: He is an elite level shooter. Listen, and please don’t get me in trouble for what I’m saying. Because Dutch is one of the great coaches in all of college basketball and Lamont’s run at San Diego State was brilliant. I mean, he couldn’t have been any better. They couldn’t have been any better, I mean that was a national championship game. But Lamont is going to be a way better shooter in our system because we shoot, that’s what we do. It’s a different style, our emphasis are different it doesn’t mean they’re better or worse, it’s just different. Lamont is an elite level shooter. I mean, Lamont shot, I mean, he shot great all summer. He’s shooting it great this season. You know, I have every expectation he is going to shoot it great. He actually finishes every shot, his balance is terrific, he’s judicial about the ones that he takes, he works hard to get his feet before his hands. You know, all of the concepts we care about in shooting, he shoots it great. So, he’s a dangerous guy that way. You know, it makes the game easier for us when people go under on him because he’s going to make shots and he’s also going to be really smart about it. I don’t, you know, it’s just who he is. There is no prognosticating, that’s just who he is as a player. He is really good.

Q Hi Mark. Before this game you mentioned that you wanted to focus a little bit on defense. I was just wondering what you saw tonight, what you liked, what you think you still need to improve on?

MARK POPE: There were some things I loved in the first half. First of all, we kept them under 39% barely. We tried desperately to try to get them over 39% in the last five minutes, but we hung in there and got them to 38.8% Field-goal percentage. That’s really important, that’s our mark, so I think we are four for four on that stat. I thought we were there on the catch the whole night really well minus the pick and pop situations with their five men, which was kind of a calculated decision on our part that worked in our favor. So I was happy about challenging shots for sure. Both inside the three and outside. I was really proud of us in the first half we only gave up one back door and this is a great cutting team. Actually, they are almost 10%, almost 10%, either 9 or 11 % of their possessions are cuts, which is really high. Guys, you don’t see that a lot. And it’s not dunker spot cuts. This is like real, real cuts, that way they are similar to us. We only gave up one in the entire first half, I was really proud of that. And our guys were actually able to handle, you know, they punish you because their scheme is you either have to race through handoffs and ball screens to get over top, or if you try to beat ‘em to it, then it’s a backdoor situation so our guys train tracks concepts were great tonight in the first half, I was really proud of that. We only gave up three offensive rebounds in the first half, although they were only sending one guy. But still, that’s a good number for us. So there’s a lot to be really pleased about us on the defensive end. I would like us to, you know, we had some stretches in the second half where were not as laser focused as we want to be. I’d like us to really develop a standard where it doesn’t matter what timer scores, that we are locked in on that, doesn’t matter who’s on the floor. We are locked in defensively the whole time. For the most part, I’m really proud of the guys defensive effort tonight. Thanks guys, have a great night.

#4, Koby Brea, G

On being on fire with shots…

“I get confidence from the team and coaching staff. They do a good job of pouring confidence into me. It means a lot—how much they trust me —and everything becomes easier. On the floor—being able to move—everything flows and comes to you. I take my time and stay patient, and I know it is going to be good.”

On if Brea remembers the 15 shots he made or remembers the 4 shots he missed…

“I only remember this game to be honest with you. I move on pretty quickly.”

On if Brea is surprised if he misses a 3…

“For sure. I feel like something is missing. It’s the game, it is probably going to happen, but it’s just about moving onto the next one. I try to do that as much as I can anytime I miss one. Just focus on the next one.”

#2, Jaxson Robinson, G

On scoring 20 after a bad scoring night against Duke…

“I have been doing it for a while. I know one game doesn’t define me. Just making sure I come out with good energy. I feel like there were a few times where I showed my frustration during the last game so just making sure I come out and be a good teammate. That’s really all it is.”

On his confidence after hitting first shot…

“I think every shot’s going in, so it’s the same—always. Doesn’t matter when it is or where it is at.”

On bouncing back from his performance against Duke …

“I feel like everybody felt my frustration after the game. I was happy we won; it was a great win. Biggest win of my career honestly. So, there’s always a good side to it. But, just being the leader that I am, especially stepping into that role this year, I just wanted to play through for my team.”

#1, Lamont Butler, G

On making three three-pointers tonight…

“It was a good day— good shooting day for me. I work on it a lot. I think it was just the results of the work I put in and the confidence that my teammates have in me— go out there and shoot that shot and just make plays for each other.”

On what he focused on in practice…

“This summer, it was just a lot of reps. I feel like I have good form, good mechanics. I think I get my feet in place almost every shot, but just getting the reps, repping out makes. I’m able to shoot with all of these guys— Kobe [Brea] and Travis [Perry], guys like that, Ansley [Almanor] — so I was able to build my confidence and every game I’m bringing the shoot.”

On playing for a coach that wants you to shoot 3s…

“He doesn’t back down from any shot. If I feel comfortable shooting it, he’s comfortable with it. It definitely gives us confidence to go out there and just make shots and make plays.”

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And here are the postgame notes, also via UK Athletics.

Team Records and Series Notes

• Kentucky is 4-0 and Lipscomb is 2-4.
• Kentucky leads the series, 3-0, with all three games played in Lexington.
• The Wildcats continue their four-game homestand Friday against Jackson State. The tip time is set for 7 p.m. on SEC Network+.

Team Notes

• Kentucky has a 4-0 start for the first time since the 2016-17 team won its first seven.
• Paced by Jaxson Robinson’s 20 points tonight, UK has had a different leading scorer in all four games this season.
• Good shooting night for the Wildcats made 54.8 percent from the field, 48 percent on 3-point shots and 81 percent at the free-throw line.
• Making 12-of-25 on 3-point shots, this is the first team in UK history to make at least 10 3-pointers in each of its first four games.
• Kentucky is one of eight teams nationally to make double-digit 3s in every game this season (one of seven teams that has played at least three games prior to tonight)
• Akron
• St. Louis
• Kennesaw State
• UIC
• Tennessee Tech
• Sam Houston State
• Louisville
• Kentucky won bench points 36-20.
• Through four games, UK is averaging 36 bench points per game and is outscoring the opponent by 18.3 bench points per game.
• Coach Mark Pope’s career record is now 191-108, with this being his first game vs. Lipscomb.

Player Notes

• Jaxson Robinson notched season highs with 20 points and seven rebounds.
• Lamont Butler had a season-high 16 points.
• Otega Oweh had 14 points and has scored double figures each game.
• Amari Williams narrowly missed a double-double with nine points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
• He has had at least eight rebounds every game this season.
• Koby Brea had 12 points, including 3-of-3 from 3-point range.
• He has made 15 of 19 on 3-pointers this season (.789)

In the First Half

• Kentucky’s starters were Lamont Butler, Otega Oweh, Jaxson Robinson, Andrew Carr and Amari Williams for the fourth consecutive game.
• First substitution was Koby Brea at 16:04.
• Oweh cashed a driving banker for the first basket of the game, and after Lipscomb tied, he swished a 3-pointer that put the Wildcats ahead to stay.
• Lipscomb missed 10 consecutive field goal attempts as UK built a 15-4 lead.
• UK led by as many as 21 points before taking a 43-26 advantage into halftime.
• The Wildcats made 8 of 13 3-pointers, most threes in a half this season.
• Robinson’s 13 points paced topped the UK scoring.

In the Second Half

• Kentucky began the second half with the starting lineup.
• The Wildcats led by as many as 40 points at 95-55.