Mark Pope: "Come on, this is Kentucky. We don't do moral victories at all."

Kentucky saw its first double-digit deficit at the 14:33 mark in the first half, one that ballooned to 23 points by halftime with Ole Miss going on a 15-3 run to close things out, the third-worst gap at the break in program history. Then it jumped to 27 points less than a minute into the second half, putting the Wildcats on the brink of an all-time beatdown — 70 points is the worst margin of defeat in school history, for those curious. That 1910 Central University team was no joke. In the 21st century, though, 41 points is the worst, Kentucky losing to Vanderbilt 93-52 in 2008.

Then something clicked for the Cats, cutting that deficit from 27 points to just 11 with 7:43 to go, putting Mark Pope‘s group in striking distance to pull off the miraculous comeback victory. The stops started stacking up as the shots continued to fall, momentum flipping with the Rebels getting tight.

That would be the closest Kentucky would get the rest of the way, though, Ole Miss responding with a 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock to go back up 14. Koby Brea 3-pointer to bring it back to 12 a few minutes later? Late jumper by the same guy, Jaylen Murray pushing the lead to 14. Otega Oweh second-chance layup? Sean Pedulla layup, back to 14.

The Cats made their push, but it wasn’t enough, and it led to a fourth loss in the team’s last five games — this one a 14-point, 98-84 final.

Is there anything positive to take away from that second-half comeback effort following the first-half disaster?

“Come on, this is Kentucky,” Pope said after the loss. “We don’t do moral victories at all.”

Good answer.

There is something to be said, though, about figuring out what worked in that second-half push to close the gap — even without two point guards — and trying to recreate that for a full 40 minutes. It’s a happy medium of acknowledging a 27-point deficit leading to a double-digit loss is unacceptable, but also finding those pockets of growth.

“We also will try and build on the things we do well. I thought we had some pace in the second half that was much better and we did it by sharing the ball,” Pope said. “Ole Miss missed a couple of shots for us, so we got to get out in transition. That’s really important, after make or miss, we have to find our way back into transition. That’s really important for us. That was a positive.”

Kentucky came up with some stops defensively, too, after a first half of zero pushback. That’s obviously priority No. 1 for this team in the immediate future.

“We went through our whole playbook of different defensive options and it’s hard to take too much because you’re nursing a lead, so you play different. At least we got some reps doing different things,” Pope continued. “We’ll get better at those, we’ll grow there. We’ve got a resilient group and a group that cares. This was one of those nights where you could have just walked away and our guys didn’t do that.

“That’s clearly a standard and we’ll never accept dipping below it, so I’m proud of our guys for that. It’s hard finding positives, but there are certainly some.”

Pope will be the first one to tell you Kentucky is in a tough spot, but nobody is feeling sorry for anyone in this league. The Wildcats have no choice but to figure things out before this thing snowballs.

He’s confident they’ll do it.

“We’ll continue to expound on the things the guys did well, but we’re in a tough spot right now as a team,” he said. “We’re searching for answers. It’s not going to get easier. This is the job, and I’m glad I get to do it with these guys. We’re gonna go find answers and we’re going to find unbelievable success as we go, but this is certainly a hard place for us right now.”