Mark Pope reveals recent losses have led to 'completely destroyed furniture' in locker room

Kentucky has lost four of its last five games, including their last two, and has a losing record (4-5) in conference play heading into the second week of February.

The Wildcats lost an emotional game inside Rupp Arena over the weekend to Arkansas and former longtime head coach John Calipari before turning around and getting discarded by Ole Miss on Tuesday night.

Ole Miss scored 98 points, the most they’ve ever scored in a game vs. UK, after scoring 54 points at halftime and leading to a 23-point, and ultimately insurmountable deficit.

“This game is just begging for you to be angry just because you’re angry and to be frustrated just because you’re frustrated and to lash out at your players just because you’re so angry and so frustrated,” Kentucky head coach Mark Pope said during his weekly radio show. “There is a place for that, but the payoff on that has limited short-term returns

“… There may or may not have been some completely destroyed furniture in the locker room after a recent loss, and that’s just part of it. But it’s got to be for a purpose.”

Later in the show, a fan tried to connect the dots and wondered whether the furniture had anything to do with the ‘blood running down [his] wrist’ coming out of the halftime break at Ole Miss. They suggested perhaps Pope had cut himself during the moment of extreme emotion.

Pope said that fan may be paying too close attention.

“We have a really high standard here at the University of Kentucky, and right now we’re not living up to that standard,” Pope responded. “And when things get emotional, we try and lean into the facts. We don’t want to be emotionally belligerent, and we understand the responsibility we have here.

“It means a lot to us, and we’re going to fight, scratch, and claw to maintain the standard and to live up to what Kentucky basketball is, what it’s always been, and what we want it to be in our part and sometimes it just means a lot, so that’s probably as much as I’m appropriately allowed to say about that.”

Kentucky has a chance to bounce back on Saturday when the Wildcats host South Carolina at Noon ET on Saturday live on ESPN. At 10-12 overall, the Gamecocks are still searching for their first win in SEC action, losing their first nine games to start the conference slate.