Mark Pope says Kentucky is 'primed' for March Madness run with 'a bunch left in the tank'

Otega Oweh showed off some March Madness magic in Nashville, hitting a game-winner against his former team for the second time — first at Oklahoma, then again against the Sooners in the SEC Tournament. Lamont Butler has been there and done that, too, hitting a buzzer-beater in the Final Four to send San Diego State to the 2023 national championship. How about Ansley Almonor? He was a part of the historic upset in that same NCAA Tournament that moved No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson past Zach Edey and No. 1 seed Purdue.

Who does Mark Pope expect to step up in Kentucky’s biggest moments this week and beyond? He’s not ready to narrow it down to just one player. There is confidence everyone will make an impact on the big stage — including the guys who have been there before and those who have not.

It’s all about getting healthy and staying healthy. Do that, and everything else can take care of itself.

“I think all of our guys are primed, I really do,” Pope said Monday during his call-in radio show. “I think these couple of days are really important for us to get as healthy as we can, and we’ll ramp it up as we go through the week. I think I have a roster of guys that are so excited to play in this tournament and eager to play, and I think these young guys still have a bunch left in the tank.

“I expect each of these veterans to have the moments that you think about these One Shining Moments in the tournament. It’s kind of the same way we’ve been all year. We’ve had different guys step up at different moments and games, and I expect that we’re gonna see that a lot more moving forward.”

The first step of that journey? No. 14 seed Troy, that matchup scheduled for Friday night at 7:10 PM ET in Milwaukee. It’s a chance for Pope to win his first-ever NCAA Tournament game — an individual achievement he doesn’t care about personally, but rather for the team, program and fanbase. It’s about continuing the tradition of postseason success for the Wildcats, and that starts this week.

What will it take to defeat the Trojans, who won the Sun Belt with a victory over Arkansas State last week? Kentucky’s best.

“They’re a really good team. They’re a very, very good team,” Pope said. “They won six in a row, just won their league championship. They have a terrific roster, a veteran guard that’s really, really — he’s one of the top steals guys in the country. (Tayton Conerway) is the Conference Player of the Year, runs the whole show for them. They got a whole slew of bigs that really shoot it. They’ll have five guys on the floor that shoot the ball really well the entire night.

“They’re coached by a great, long-time coach, Scott Cross, who’s been doing this for a long time, and he’s really terrific. They’re a very, very good team, and they’re exactly what you expect.”

Kentucky is looking to avoid a third first-round exit in four years. We’ll find out if they can do it in Milwaukee in the coming days.