It's already getting uncomfortable for Mark Pope at Kentucky | Estes

No such thing as a must-win game for a Kentucky basketball coach.

That’s every game.

Big Blue Nation doesn’t swarm arenas to watch the Wildcats lose. When they do start losing, it can become a crisis rapidly in a state that treasures its college basketball as seriously as its bourbon. Which is to say, they expect to do it better in the bluegrass than anywhere else.

So there will be no excuse for what happened at Bridgestone Arena on Dec. 5. With even more UK blue packed in these seats than you’d usually see Nashville Predators gold, a struggling Kentucky team was booed off the court, humbled and humiliated by Gonzaga to the tune of 94-59.

“All the boos we heard tonight were incredibly well-deserved, mostly for me,” Kentucky coach Mark Pope said. “We have to fix it. ... As a former player here, I'm pissed at the coach, too.”

The honeymoon, without question, is over in Lexington for Pope. It’s early, but his second Kentucky team has thus far been a colossal (and highly expensive) disappointment.

Kentucky is 5-4 overall, but it is 0-4 against big-brand opponents. After an early loss at rival Louisville (96-88) came a whupping by Michigan State (83-66) and then an ugly offensive showing against North Carolina (67-64) at Rupp Arena on Dec. 2.

“Is Kentucky’s Mark Pope already on the hot seat?” read a headline on the UK fan site CatsPause. ESPN’s Jeff Borzello included six SEC teams in his Top 25 power rankings, and none was named Kentucky.

And that was before Gonzaga opened a can at Bridgestone, ringing alarm bells about Kentucky that’ll resonate nationally while spoiling the holiday season in Lexington.

Losing at Kentucky is unlike losing in the rest of the SEC – and nearly every other college basketball program. Pope’s job is getting mighty uncomfortable for the first time.

After predecessor John Calipari took his talents to Arkansas as part of a high-profile and overdue divorce, Pope wasn’t exactly a five-star replacement at first. But the hire went down smoothly as his first UK team won 24 games while playing some attractive, high-scoring basketball.

A postseason run was halted by Tennessee in the Sweet 16, but there was ample reason – and ample talent on the roster – to expect Kentucky to be one of the SEC’s best again.

But bad vibes are snowballing on Pope’s team. The nonconference schedule is brutal. Injuries have been a concern. Kentucky’s rebounding and offense, of late, have been larger concerns.

Three days after the UNC defeat, the Wildcats had the misfortune of being in Nashville to take on the quality of opponent you’d rather not face while trying to regain confidence.

Gonzaga (8-1) looked like one of the nation’s best clubs until a 40-point loss to Michigan in the Players Era Championship. Mark Few’s Bulldogs had nine days to stew on that before taking out frustrations on the Wildcats, who, in turn, didn’t put up much resistance from the jump.

Kentucky missed its first 10 shots and didn’t make its first field goal until nearly nine minutes into game. By that point, Gonzaga led 19-2. The Wildcats shot 16.1% (5-of-31) in the first half and were booed heartily by their fans at Bridgestone as the bricks piled up.

The mystery of the evening was why a Kentucky team that evidently can’t shoot from the perimeter continued to hoist so many 3-pointers. But hoist, the Wildcats did, shooting 34 of their 60 attempts from long range.

Thus, Gonzaga shot 57% with 46 points in the paint, compared to Kentucky’s 27% and 18, and the Bulldogs’ big man Graham Ike scored a game-high 28 points and made 10 field goals from 2-point range. Kentucky’s entire team made nine 2-point field goals.

“I don’t have a great answer for you other than we’ve kind of diminished a little bit into a bad spot right now,” Pope said, “and we have to dig ourselves out of it.”

No one envies the coming days for Pope. He’ll get a breather against North Carolina Central before rival Indiana visits Rupp Arena on Dec. 13 for a backyard brawl, followed on Dec. 20 by a reunion in Atlanta with an old friend Rick Pitino and St. John’s.

Things may be about to get worse. Boos could grow louder. Pressure on Pope could increase even more, and that’s before even getting to SEC play.

Big Blue Nation is antsy, because it’s about to find out how good a coach it really has.

Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at [email protected] and hang out with him on Bluesky @gentryestes.bsky.social

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: It's already uncomfortable for Mark Pope with Kentucky basketball