UK Fans of the Day Want National Media Reactions to Kentucky's win vs. Duke
There’s nothing better after a big win than seeing what the national media has to say about it. As you might expect, Mark Pope and the Cats are drawing rave reviews following the 77-72 comeback victory over No. 6 Duke. Kentucky’s stock is soaring after Pope’s first signature win, which is proof that his system and passion are exactly what the program needed at a major crossroads.
Here’s a rundown of the top takes. Fill up that coffee cup again and enjoy.
Myron Medcalf, ESPN
Medcalf, whose excellent profile of Mark Pope dropped on Tuesday, said he’s concerned that Kentucky doesn’t have a go-to bucket-getter inside the arc, but the fact that the Cats pulled off the win anyway shows they are an early national title contender.
For Mark Pope’s first four seasons at BYU, 3-point attempts accounted for nearly 40% of shots. Then something changed last season when the Cougars suddenly increased that number to more than 50%. Read: Every other shot in their offense last season was a 3-pointer. But they actually made fewer than 35% of those shots overall.
When he moved to Kentucky, Pope recruited five players who shot at least 37% from 3. That accuracy from the perimeter was the reason Duke and Kentucky were tied 72-72 in the final minute of the game Tuesday. It’s also partly why the Wildcats won. Kentucky shot 40% from beyond the arc and kept the game close before multiple clutch plays late. That offensive capability matters. The experience on its roster matters. The toughness on its roster matters. Kentucky challenged Flagg in the second half and forced key turnovers.
There were multiple stretches, however, when Kentucky needed someone who could create a shot. A team that made 40% of its field goal attempts inside the arc will have to identify players who can attack in those challenging moments.
Still, Kentucky proved something Tuesday night: When it plays as a team, it can beat the best squads in the country. And it has made the case it belongs among the early national title contenders.
CJ Moore, The Athletic
Moore said that Mark Pope “out-schemed” Jon Scheyer in the second half by going with Andrew Carr inside.
Pope, meanwhile, went to a small-ball lineup for the first time, using forward Andrew Carr to take advantage of Duke’s centers in the middle of the floor. Carr, who spent the last two seasons at Wake Forest, finished with 17 points, five rebounds and three assists, calmly making smart play after smart play in the clutch.
Kentucky’s five-out offense generated good looks for much of the night, executing a clear gameplan to try to take advantage of Duke’s 7-foot-2 freshman center Khaman Maluach. Kentucky center Amari Williams usually got to where he wanted to go but struggled to finish at the basket and shot just 3 of 12 from the field. Pope’s decision to move Carr to center may have won him the game and provided an early sign that Kentucky ended its eventful search to replace John Calipari with a smart coach who knows how to put his best players in spots to be successful.
Gary Parrish, CBS Sports
Gary Parrish did not have Kentucky in his “Top 25 And One” rankings on Tuesday morning. After watching the Cats come from behind to upset Duke, he now has them ranked No. 13. That’s in large part due to Pope, whom Parrish said is leading a Big Blue Revival.
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But Tuesday night wasn’t about Flagg stumbling in the final seconds, or Duke squandering a double-digit lead, as much as it was about Pope putting his stamp on the program he helped win the national championship as a player in April 1996 before taking over as the coach in April 2024 after Calipari left under pressure for Arkansas. Pope, previously the coach at BYU, wasn’t UK athletic director Mitch Barnhart’s first choice, nor should he have been. But, for a while now, Pope has felt like the perfect choice to lead Big Blue Nation.
He inherited nothing from Calipari.
He started from scratch.
But Pope has already won the hearts and minds of the fanbase — mostly because he’s quickly built a competent team that’s fun to watch and easy to root for, but also because he’s done it all while going out of his way to make the in-state media and diehard supporters feel like they matter again.
Bottom line, Mark Pope has just been really, really smart and good every step of the way.
Mike DeCourcy, Sporting News
DeCourcy writes that Pope pulling off a win like this with a roster that doesn’t include any players the casual basketball fan has heard of bodes well for the future.
From Cliff Hagan to Dan Issel to Ron Mercer to John Wall, Kentucky has been a program that either gathered stars or conjured them. This is not that sort of team. The current Wildcats may go on to great achievements this season, but they will follow a different path.
They don’t have anyone talented enough to be an All-American. They have nine players, though, who could play well enough together to contend for an SEC championship. And if you’re one of those who insist conference titles no longer matter in a sport dominated by March Madness, you need to understand it’s all but impossible to claim the biggest prizes without first mattering in the preliminaries.
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UK already has commitments from two top-25 high school prospects for 2025, including five-star wing Jasper Johnson. Only two of the Wildcats’ current regulars can return. But Pope might find himself even closer to the front of the portal line this time. He’ll have time to plan, and quite possibly the significant success of 2024-25 to sell. Ten of the last 12 Champions Classic winners earned top-four NCAA Tournament seeds. For Kentucky, even with its grand history, that would be a great start.
Jon Rothstein
Rothstein went in-depth on Kentucky’s win with Jacob Polacheck on KSR+ but also included this blurb on Pope in his daily Breakfast Buffet.
Mark Pope picked up a signature win against Duke
This guy needed all of nine days to endear himself to college basketball’s most wild fanbase. Many people questioned how Kentucky could hire Pope — who has never won an NCAA Tournament game — to replace a Hall-of-Famer like John Calipari, but the former Wildcat big man answered the bell on Tuesday against Duke in the Champions Classic. Despite not inheriting a single player who played for Kentucky last season, Pope quickly molded a team together that was good enough to beat the Blue Devils on a neutral court. Tuesday night’s 77-72 win isn’t just validation for Pope as a coach — it’s also a testament to his aesthetically pleasing style which features great spacing and all sorts of unselfishness on offense. The Wildcats had 17 assists on 25 made field goals in the victory and shot a whopping 40 percent from three-point range. The Pope era is officially underway in Lexington.
John Fanta
Fanta was in Atlanta for the game and couldn’t get over the reaction from Kentucky fans as the Cats pulled off the upset.
Walking around the concourse at State Farm Arena on Tuesday night, one Kentucky fan approached me: “At the end of the day, John Calipari’s time featured a ton of incredible moments. But it was time for the end. A breakup was the best thing for us.”
You can’t argue with that fan’s views right now. For the first time in years, the Wildcats were running a wide variety of set plays. It was not an over-reliance on youth, but rather personnel rooted in college experience. Kentucky’s entire starting five are upperclassmen. And on a night where presumed star Jaxson Robinson had only one point and was a non-factor, where Amari Williams went 3-for-12 and Kriisa shot 2-for-9, the Wildcats didn’t let some cold spells define them. They showed their depth by going 10-deep, outscoring Duke’s bench, 25-6, and having six players score at least eight points.
On this night, Kentucky fans have to feel the best they have in years. They have a leader who is one of their own, a member of the legendary 1996 Untouchables, who showed he can get it done with the spotlight on him and his first attempt at a big win.
In Pope they trust. And Atlanta watering holes will make their month’s rent, if not more, from Big Blue Nation.
Jeff Eisenberg, Yahoo Sports
Kentucky was only 5-8 in the Champions Classic under John Calipari, 1-3 vs. Duke. As Jeff Eisenberg wrote, last night’s win showed how different things are in Lexington now, and how Mitch Barnhart’s gamble paid off.
When John Calipari fled to Arkansas on the eve of last season’s national title game, Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart responded by taking two big swings. He made Dan Hurley tell him no, and the UConn coach quickly elected to chase a threepeat in Storrs. Then he offered the job to Scott Drew and flew his family to Lexington, only to have the Baylor coach decide to pass on the opportunity.
The not-so-splashy “Plan C” that Barnhart pivoted to has so far proven to be an inspired third choice. Pope is one of Kentucky’s own, a team captain on Rick Pitino’s powerhouse 1996 national championship team and the first ex-Wildcat to coach his alma mater since 1985. He’s also the anti-Calipari in many ways, an innovator who runs a modern, 3-point-heavy offense.
The veteran-heavy roster that Pope assembled on the fly bears little resemblance to Calipari’s freshman-laden teams. The Wildcats feature nine transfers, including six fifth-year seniors. Their players have made 586 combined starts even if they had little time playing together.
Experience mattered Tuesday night when Duke extended its lead to 56-47 with 13 minutes remaining in the second half. Instead of wilting, Kentucky ratcheted up its defensive intensity, allowing the Blue Devils only five made field goals the rest of the way.
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