Mark Pope hopes to keep Kentucky rotation at 10 'as long as the game will let us'

BYU had ten different players average at least 9.5 minutes per game in 23 appearances or more with eight playing at least 19 minutes per contest, no one with over 29 minutes per night. It was a balanced attack without one star player leading the scoring charge — Jaxson Robinson led the team with 14.2 points per game off the bench en route to Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year honors.

Kentucky‘s opener vs. Wright State? Ten players with at least 13 minutes and no one with more than 27. Of that group, six Wildcats finished in double figures while eight finished with multiple buckets, but only one surpassing the 20-point mark — Otega Oweh going for 21 in 27 minutes.

Availability is mostly out of his control with injury and illness, but if Pope has it his way, that’s how things are going to be the rest of the way. When you have the talent and depth Kentucky does, it’s crucial to use as much of it as you can.

“I would be really blessed to keep those 10 guys healthy,” the Kentucky head coach said after the 103-62 win. “… If we can stay healthy, I would like to just keep coming in waves. As much as we can. There are times when the game is not going to allow that, but I would like to keep coming in waves. I think it’s hard and really challenging with the opponents we have. It’s interesting.”

That’s not even including guys like Travis Perry and Trent Noah, who are eventual contributors in their own right — “It could be in a week, a day, a month, a year when these guys are going to be headliner guys on this team,” Pope said of the Kentuckians — while the first-year coach also shouted out walk-on Walker Horn for his efforts behind the scenes.

Point being, it’s a loaded roster with players capable of impacting winning. Of the 12 scholarship pieces, there are 12 Pope trusts to play at any given time. He won’t limit himself to any specific number for that reason.

“Listen, there is real space in there. Travis Perry is a real good basketball player and Trent Noah is a really, really good basketball player and those guys can win also. And Walker Horn is also going to be mad that I left him off the list. So, Walker Horn is also a really good – shout out to Walker,” he said. “… Our guys, they all fit the way we play but we really have 12 guys with very unique skill sets.

“And so every time someone new rolls onto the court it’s like, ‘Oh, we’ve got a new little toolkit we can work with.’ As a coach it’s such a blessing and allows us to be really creative.”

In an ideal world, though, two full units is the goal for Pope. It’s a moving target and sometimes games unfold in a way that you’re limited to fewer players — foul trouble, fatigue and injuries, to name a few normal hurdles.

Without those, 10 is the magic number.

“The game normally makes you constrict to eight or nine, sometimes seven or eight,” Pope said. “I would like to live in this 10 space as long as the game will let us.”