Mark Pope tightend his rotation down the stretch against Missouri

Mark Pope has now coached three full games with Kentucky’s current roster configuration. That includes a rotation without Jaxson Robinson and Kerr Kriisa, who have been ruled out for the season due to injury. It’s not the spot Pope would like to be in heading into postseason play, but it’s comforting to know — barring any new injury surprises — this is the group he’ll have the rest of the way.

And he’s clearly becoming more comfortable with what he can put on the floor right now. Kentucky’s 91-83 road win over Missouri over the weekend to close out the regular season was a good example of that confidence. The starters all played over 26 minutes, which would have been higher for a couple of Wildcats had it not been for first half foul trouble. Pope stuck to a seven-man rotation in the second half, leaning heavily on his starting five.

Andrew Carr‘s 34 minutes were his season-high, Koby Brea‘s 37 minutes were his second-most of the season, and Amari Williams‘ 29 minutes were his third-most. After dealing with foul trouble in the first half, Lamont Butler and Otega Oweh each played 17 second-half minutes. Collin Chandler (eight second half minutes) and Brandon Garrison (six) filled out the extra playing time after the intermission. If Williams doesn’t tweak his back in the middle of the second half (a 5:30 span on the bench that saw Kentucky’s lead go from 13 to seven), he likely ends up playing most of those lost minutes, as well.

“The first half we were kind of managing foul issues, and so we got all the way through the rotation. And then the second half we didn’t have as foul issues and we had fresher guys,” Pope said postgame. “Otega and Lamont didn’t play very much in the first half. There’s so many variables and dynamics that go into it… And in the second half, there was just a slow enough cadence to the game that we kind of got to keep it a little bit tighter. And these guys are playing so good.”

That’s the other part of it: Kentucky’s starting group is all playing high-level basketball. They combined for 77 of UK’s 91 points, including 48 of the team’s 53 second half points. Butler and Carr appear healthy again. Defense no longer appears to be a glaring issue.

Early foul trouble ended up working in Kentucky’s favor a bit in this one, too. It allowed Travis Perry and Trent Noah, pieces Pope will surely need in the postseason, to come in and hit a pair of important three-pointers. Butler and Oweh — the latter scoring 20 second-half points — were fresher down the stretch as a result. It gave Chandler an opportunity to find his footing, which he carried over into the second half.

Across the final 5:07 of regulation, Pope did not sub once. He ran with his starting group of Butler, Oweh, Brea, Carr, and Williams the rest of the way. Kentucky had a nine-point lead at the time and kept it there en route to an eight-point win.

Somewhat out of necessity, Pope is slowly trimming down his rotations. He’ll continue to throw the likes of Garrison, the three freshmen, and Ansley Almonor into the mix early to help them get a feel for the flow, but when the game tightens up, he goes with what he trusts. Interestingly enough, Almonor only saw four minutes of playing time against Missouri, but as a 6-foot-7 forward, his matchup against the Tigers’ lengthy frontcourt might not have been one to toy with. His playing time moving forward could very likely be matchup-based.

Don’t be shocked if Pope sticks with a similar formula into the postseason. He’ll still go as deep as 10 players, but when push comes to shove, he’ll lean on the starters. Chandler has shown enough as of late to assume he’ll be the sixth man while Garrison will step in to give Williams some needed rest.

So yes, while Pope will still make changes before the first media timeout, just like he did against Missouri, he’s going to play his best guys down the stretch.

Subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel for press conferences, interviews, original shows, fan features, and exclusive content.