Mark Pope raves about Kentucky's willingness to learn: 'It's unbelievable'

Mark Pope was elated with his Kentucky Wildcats team following their win over the Texas A&M Aggies on Tuesday evening.

A couple things caught the coach’s attention when thinking about his team’s performance — the physicality Kentucky played with, their ability to quell Texas A&M’s offensive rebounding prowess and the Wildcats’ willingness to learn. That’s what Pope decided to rave about once the 12-point win was in the books.

“You know you’re really blessed as a coach when you have great students,” Pope told the media, following Kentucky’s win. “What I mean by that is our guys want to learn. When we point our guys in a direction, our guys go. Like, it’s unbelievable. That sounds so simple, but it actually doesn’t happen in basketball with very many teams. When our guys dig in and focus, it might not be an immediate payoff in a day, but over the course of a week or two weeks or a month, these guys — every single time, they’ve kind of answered the bell, and actually got better.

“If you told me it was gonna be 40-30, and we’re gonna out-offensive rebound them by one, and we’re gonna hold two of the best offensive rebounders in the entire country, their starting five and their backup five to only one offensive rebound between them, that’s an epic effort by our guys, and I’m really proud. I’m saying that because we have so much respect for what Texas A&M does on the glass. They’re incredible on the glass there.”

All told, Pope’s first season as the leader in Lexington couldn’t be going much better. Kentucky is 14-3 on the season after this win against Texas A&M, as they took down a team that had a ton of momentum heading into the game. They’re now 3-1 inside the SEC, as well.

Guard Jaxson Robinson truly showed what he can do against the Aggies. He led the team in scoring with 22, and he also provided eight rebounds and two assists on the evening. Nothing to scoff at for the Wildcats in their win.

Looking ahead, Kentucky and Mark Pope have an all-important showdown with the Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday at Noon ET. That’s one that can truly separate two of the top teams in the SEC, so expect more of the same from the Wildcats this weekend.