Mark Pope on Kentucky fans traveling to SEC Tournament: 'There's no fanbase like this in the world'

As they typically do, Kentucky fans are expected to travel in large numbers to watch the Wildcats in the SEC Tournament this week. The tournament officially tipped off on Wednesday, but UK is not scheduled to play until Thursday, when it will face the winner between Georgia and Oklahoma.

Wildcats coach Mark Pope appeared for a press conference Wednesday, where he was asked about the advantage of having so many fans at a neutral site. In that way, it can feel almost a little closer to a home game at times.

“It’s Kentucky. There’s no fan base like this in the world,” Pope said. “It’s part of the reason why it means so much to us. There is nothing in the world that my guys would like more than to gift BBN an incredible week here. That means a lot to us. We’re really devoted to doing everything we can humanly possible as a team to make that happen.”

Kentucky finished 10-8 in conference play this season to earn the No. 6 seed in the SEC Tournament. The Wildcats enter the tournament having won three of their past four games, including an 83-82 nail-biter against the Sooners a couple of weeks ago.

As for Georgia, the Bulldogs got the better of Kentucky earlier this season as the Wildcats lost 82-69. Both of those meetings during the regular were on the road, though, so perhaps Kentucky can have a few more fans in attendance for this matchup.

Kentucky won has 32 out of 64 SEC Tournaments in history, more than any other school. However, it’s been a few years since the last one, which came in 2018 when the Wildcats beat Tennessee.

They’ll have a tall task to get a victory this year, but Pope has given this program hope that it has a chance after a rough past few years under John Calipari. After Kentucky picked up a program-record eighth win against a top-15 opponent on Saturday, Pope discussed his wild first season at the helm of the Wildcats.

“It’s just an insane number,” Pope said. “If you come to Kentucky and you can do something all-time at the University of Kentucky as a team, like all-time, at Kentucky, and you think about the people who have rolled through here.

“For this group now to hold that record, is just insane and then in the history of the game of college basketball for them to be tied, it’s a credit to these guys man. It’s a special group, and it hasn’t been an easy road. Like, we’ve been tested every way in health, and rotation stuff and all of this stuff has been a massive, massive challenge and these guys just keep raising up to it… It’s been pretty fun.”

The Wildcats tip off around 9:30 p.m. ET on Thursday evening. Expect the fans to come out in full force then as they hope to watch Kentucky begin its path to a 33rd SEC Tournament title.