Amid calls for him to react more sternly after a perceived lack of effort in the first half of Tuesday's 98-84 loss at Ole Miss, Kentucky head coach Mark Pope referred to his team's showing as "unacceptable" during his weekly radio show but remained upbeat about their prospects moving forward.
One of the final callers to the show told the first-year UK coach that he can live with wins and losses when the effort is there but finds it hard to accept what he saw in the first half at Oxford when the Rebels took the third-largest halftime lead (23) by an SEC team playing UK in the Wildcats' illustrious history.
"It doesn't take anything to play hard but guts and endurance," the caller, Steve from Trigg County, told Pope.
"Here's the thing," Pope responded. "Listening to you ask that question, I can kinda feel the pain in your heart, and I get it. Geez. Yes, that is the standard we should never dip below, and I don't think that any of us were proud of what we put on the floor last night. That was just not acceptable. I feel you immensely, more than you know.
"In terms of the effort and fight and passion on the floor, just know that we're feeling the same thing. We understand that there's no world where that's acceptable here at Kentucky... Our team is feeling it. It will be addressed, and you will be proud of this group."
Simply getting angry and ripping into the team, as another caller beckoned, will not solve the problem, according to Pope.
"There is a place for that, but the payoff on that has limited short-term returns," he said. "So I think (those moments) have to be positioned well... It's got to be for a purpose. It just can't be an emotional release. If it is, it's just not the most productive thing."
The No. 14 Wildcats (15-7, 4-5 SEC) have lost four of their last five games and are starting to show the effects of playing without a true point guard the last three outings due to Lamont Butler (shoulder) and Kerr Kriisa (foot) being sidelined.
It has shown up the most on the defensive end of the floor, where the Cats are coming off giving up 89 points to Arkansas and 98 points to Ole Miss, more than 22 points above each team's season scoring averages.
While Pope sounded optimistic about solving the effort issue, finding a fix to the defensive woes is a bigger challenge, especially without defensive standout Butler at the point. UK is allowing 86.3 points per game in SEC play and ranks 109th nationally in the KenPom efficiency rankings.
Ole Miss shot 55% from the field, made 13 mostly uncontested 3-pointers, and -- perhaps most damning for UK's lack of effort and intensity -- finished with only one turnover on the night. It is believed to be the only game in UK program history for an opponent to finish with such a low figure.
"Our guys have to take this more and more personally," Pope said.
Pope conceded that perhaps his scouting of opponents has not been good of late in terms of thinking the Cats had to pick their proverbial poison. He suggested the staff will now look to demand players execute multiple defensive objectives.
"It's time for us to step up and do it," he said. "It's time for me to require that of our guys and for them to require it from each other."
Kentucky still has league games remaining with the No. 1 (Auburn) and No. 3 (Alabama) offenses in the nation, as well as Missouri (12) and Oklahoma (16). For comparison's sake, Arkansas currently ranks 81st.
