VIDEO: Kentucky HC Mark Pope - Georgia State Postgame - CatsIllustrated: Kentucky Wildcats Football & Basketball Recruiting

MARK POPE: It was a great night for, I thought it was a great night of basketball. All of the saltiness and the whole deal. A really physical team, a good team. Jonas is a terrific coach. He's going to be a star in this business. I've known him for a long time. It was, you know, Georgia State's, this is their third game in four nights, so it was a really commendable effort for them. I thought our guys responded great. I thought our guys, as things got a little more intense, I thought our guys pulled together. And that's such a, so beautiful to see that as a coach. I was really proud of the guys for that. I will take any questions.

Q Mark. I'm sure you don't want to see all the pushing and shoving and all that, what does that tell you about your team the way they responded in the immediate aftermath of that incident?

MARK POPE: We had four kills in the first half and we had zero kills up to that point in the second half, and then we had 4 kills after that. I thought our guys did an unbelievable job, you know, as an athlete and performer is really what you are, right? The way we play, which is so mentally demanding. You can't get too carried away emotionally and you got to keep taking all the emotion and funneling it back to focus. And I thought our guys did a spectacular job of doing that and at the same time meeting the physicality of the game. I was really proud of our guys and it felt good. It felt nice. Our guys, you know, when things got salty, our guys leaned into each other and looked into each other and making eye contact with each other and talking to each other and were backing each other up. That's what you want from a team. Our guys felt it too. They talked about it in the locker room after. Some of the guys made that comment, man, it felt good to know that we were all in this together. And so, all of those were good signs, I was proud of our guys and I was proud they kept a lid on it too, like it never became distracting, it became focusing. And that's the difference between winning and losing it. If we can take all the emotion and keep it in a focus place and not a distract place, it's really great.

Q Coach, you talked about what Kerr Kriisa does for this team. You said some nights he's gonna get 12 assists and zero turnovers, and you said one night would be a night where he will get 20. But tonight it seemed like after that little incident, he kind of really focused in there for a minute and even was getting really excited and trying to get the crowd into it. And then at the end he was kind of throwing up some shots. Where is the line and how do you use that energy but then also keep it controlled to where you can funnel it?

MARK POPE: Yep, Listen, I'm telling you guys, we talked about this altogether, probably when Kerr first came here. He's a one of one. I'm telling you, I love coaching him so much. Our guys love him as a teammate so much and he was spectacular tonight. At one point he was our leading plus minus. He was +16 and we were only up six, and he's a +16 at that point in the game. And he took a couple of charges tonight and it was super salty and was super animated and he brings so much energy and so much pace and so much moxie and fearlessness. And then I will tell you the best tribute to Kerr, is that with one minute 30 seconds left, Lamont comes up to me and I just subbed the guys back in and Lamont said, hey coach, Kerr is only three points away from 1000 and we got to give him a shot. So the whole bench was like, Kerr, you got to shoot it, we got to get to 1000. Gotta get to 1000. One of the beautiful things about Kerr is he's never going to shy away from the moment. Even that part, Kerr has done such a, I'm telling you, he's done such a beautiful, he's been such a piece of galvanizing our team. I just think BBN is going to continue to love watching what he does. There's going to be some moments where Kerr crosses the line. I'm going to ask Kerr to do something and he's going to say no, I'm going to do the other thing, I'm like, ok, I love you and you bring some salt to our team. He's super special. I'm so grateful he's here, he's helping transform this team into something special. He's brilliant.

Q Mark, over here. When you were hired, there was so much excitement with the fan base. 35 three-point attempts a game running. All of that stuff. I had some old-timers who grew up with the game that said well, what happens on those nights where they go seven of 26? Is this your answer? And have you have a team that can do both at this kind of level?

MARK POPE: I was really proud of our guys. Probably led by Amari. I mean, Andrew Carr was unbelievable too. Andrew Carr was so stubborn as second pivot guy, like being relentless to the rim. If you think about Georgia state, Georgia State is a team that was built and function to like punish you and they are a double duck team and there's just not a lot of teams that play double duck basketball anymore. From the 80s, right, it works. And actually everyone has gone so far away from it that it's kind of interesting to bring that style back and see where it works because it's not something that you see every night. They are built physical and tough and scored inside and just be relentless. They are driving into two, four bodies, two guys ducking and driving into it. But what I'm super proud of is on a night where we didn't shoot the ball great, we outscored them in the paint 62 to 24. That's super cool. And that's a lot of things. One, Lamont Butler was like, my gosh, every time I turn my guys hips and get to the rim, there is nobody there. Right? That's a tribute to our guys shooting the ball so well and being so dangerous and cutting so hard. Amari was unbelievable, just taking up space in the middle. I love it. I think we went a different way against Western Kentucky. I think we went a different way tonight. I think we have a team that can meet the moment. We'll always strive towards being the character of what we are. When the game just doesn't play that way, I think we find other ways to win it and that’s going to be really important for us to be a great team and a great team to do that can win in different ways. The 62 points in the paint was super exciting to me.

Q Mark, right here. Going back to the scuffle real quick, you got on the floor and helped break it up. Kinda two things. One, what was going through your mind when that was going on? And number two, how do you grade your own physicality on that play and how you got in there?

MARK POPE: I was a little slow out there. I was a little nervous about pulling a hammy, but if I'm being clear, I probably shouldn't be so transparent. I raced out there and, you know, you are always trying to just remove people from the fray. I grabbed one of the Georgia state players that was kind of jumping in late and my next reaction was where is Lee Anne. I'm telling you, at one point she could be running on the floor knocking someone out and I'm like, I cannot have that. That was actually my second thing. I got this thing taken care of. Make sure Lee Anne is under control over there. This was – was it your favorite game so far? Lee Anne loves it when it gets salty. It's like get em, all right, I'll stop.

Q Mark, you mentioned Lamont earlier. I think 17 points, six assists, four rebounds and three steals. Can you just talk about what he's giving you right now?

MARK POPE: My goodness, he was good today, wasn't he? He was so under control and didn't look like he could reproduce every single one of the plays he made every single night? There was no hope in any of those plays. I'm so proud of him. Like how he's transitioned now to going from a guy who, it was funny, we were sitting at Thanksgiving dinner yesterday and - what do they call it. It was something, you weren't there. You guys have to ask Lamont after. It was something about downhill Butler, just racing to the rim. He will tell you the phrase. But the savvy he is playing with now. His maturity in the game and the fact he's not blindly racing downhill. He's a prober now and he's manipulating all the pieces on the court is what allows him to be a seven for 10 guy tonight and probably a seven for 10 guy the next night and next night and I'm telling you, he's growing so fast in his game right now. He's been awesome, he's been terrific tonight. I thought he was brilliant on the court.

Q Mark, we kind of think of you as a forward thinking person. We've got a couple of important games coming up this week. I know it's not even December yet. How important are those games in terms of preparing for March?

MARK POPE: Well, we are trying to learn from every game. The two games this week. This week somewhere, I can't remember what day it is. The last two games have been great learning games for us. Like, great, the data we are bringing in is so good and our guys are experiencing things together so good. You know, next week is our first true road game. Really, it's going to be essentially our first true road games against elite level talent. Both insanely physical teams. Clemson incrediblyphysical. Gonzaga, I know Gonzaga well. We been messing with them for a long time and coach Hughes is probably the best in college basketball or close to it, I don't know how to rate them. Gonzaga is always insanely physical and part of their team that people miss sometimes. It's something, we are going into a combat week where it's going to be a massively physical game. Tuesday and whenever, Saturday or Friday or whatever it is. We are excited about it. We will learn more about our team. You know, our job is to go win. And so, these guys will go home and get some rest tonight and as a staff we will jump on this hard tonight and get as much in we can tomorrow. It's awesome, this is what you love about college basketball is you can turn it around in 72 hours and go again. Good week. So, Big week.

Q Hey coach, your team is doing good in transition going off turnovers. Can you talk a little bit more about for your team to be able to do that?

MARK POPE: I'm really proud of our transition numbers. I don't know, I don't think our transition has been as high as normal. We have been at 25% almost at 1.4 points per possession in transition which is insanely good. Our guys are capable. We have guys that can, you know, we are not a massive turnover forcing team but we have guys that can get live ball steals. Lamont can drive grab live ball steals and Otega can grab live ball steals. And we have guys that can go up and grab a rebound and push our fives and fours and get pushed in transition and all of those things really help. It's an important part of who we are. Our pace was not at an elite level tonight but it's still good and an important part of the game for us.

Q Mark, I know you love playing here but going back to those two games coming up. What kind of bonds can be formed with a team like this. Especially, I know you been together a few months but new guys when you go out on the road and into those environments. What do you see happening?

MARK POPE: It's good times and hard times and all the timesthat bring teams together. It's where our guys focus is, right? Tonight was brilliant because our guys kept leaning into each other. As long as we do that, wins are going to bring us closer together. Tough times are going to bring us closer together. Fights are going to bring us closer together. Huge massive scoring runs are going to bring us closer together. It's how we deal with those situations and our guys are doing a great job leaning into each other. It's fun and it makes the locker room really fun. These guys are working hard. You've got some guys that are sick and some guys that are hurt and a couple guys out. The guys are still fighting to lean into each other and bring joy for each other. It's really every day. You and I talk about, we just don't have enough time. We want to put as many, squeeze as many moments in as we can where we can lean on each other through all the stuff because that's actually where we get close. I will leave with a little comment on the referees. Okay? Really disturbing. My cufflink broke. I love wearing cufflinks, it makes me feel nostalgic, like New York in the 60s, I don't know. To me it's like you have big eyes, where is he talking about, where's it going. My cufflink broke, I didn't know it, okay? The referee is running down the court and he said coach, your cufflink broke and it's on the floor. These guys see everything. Kudos to the referees for seeing everything. They’ve got a really, really hard job but they do it well. Thanks, guys.