Kentucky players elated to help Mark Pope earn first NCAA Tournament win: 'It's the first of many.'

In his third NCAA Tournament appearance as a head coach, Mark Pope finally picked up a win in the Big Dance, his first try with his alma mater. 3-seeded Kentucky beat 14-seeded Troy 76-57 in the opening round Friday night in Milwaukee.

Kentucky didn’t make it easy on Pope either. The first half was never pretty, but a timely 16-0 run in the second half was enough to pull away for good. Led by a game-high 20 points from Otega Oweh, four Wildcats finished in double-figures while Troy shot just 34.9 percent from the field.

Now in his 10th season as a Divison I head coach, Pope can finally say he’s won in the NCAA Tournament. For it to happen with his first UK team, the same school he played for in college and won a national championship with, was the icing on the cake. A shot at the Sweet 16 will take place on Sunday as Pope will look to pick up his second tournament victory in three days.

“I’m sure it’s the first of many,” Freshman guard Collin Chandler, who committed to Pope when he was at BYU three years ago, said postgame. “It’s fun to celebrate it and be a part of it with Coach Pope but it’s the first of many for him. We’re grateful to be a part of the first one.”

“It was very important,” Sophomore center Brandon Garrison, who was seated next to Chandler and Oweh at the postgame press conference podium, said of helping Pope check off that box. “Coach Pope is a very special individual. He trusted us three to bring us on the team this year. It was empty when we first got there. Just all the talks me and him had, it was just special getting him his first tournament win.”

Pope, never one to brag about himself, still refused to do so when asked postgame about what the win means for him.

“It means that Mitch (Barnhart) isn’t going to fire me until Saturday or Sunday or whenever we play next,” Pope joked. “The trick is it’s not about us at all. It’s just not. It’s not. So I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about it. I spend a lot of time thinking about our guys, where this is their one shot to do this.”

Pope clearly has much larger goals than just one tournament win, but getting this one taken care of was the first important step toward achieving them.

“I’m just grateful that (Garrison) can’t walk around calling me the Big Zero anymore,” Pope said with a smile.

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