Mark Pope's after timeout play call in the final minute vs. Oklahoma was a thing of beauty

by:Zack Geoghegan•about 9 hours•

ZGeogheganKSR

Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope gestures to his team during a play against the Oklahoma Sooners during the second half at Lloyd Noble Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

Mark Pope was a wizard with the clipboard in the closing minute of Kentucky’s 83-82 win over Oklahoma. But no play call was more significant than the one he drew up after a timeout with under a minute left in the game and the Wildcats down one.

Let me quickly set the scene: Glen Taylor Jr., who came into the game shooting 25.5 percent from deep, reluctantly nailed a three-pointer with 1:45 to go, flipping a two-point Kentucky lead into an Oklahoma advantage. Otega Oweh, the star of the night and a key piece to the play we’ll discuss in a moment, missed a three-pointer the next time down for UK before Taylor forced up another three on the other end for the Sooners. The numbers worked in Kentucky’s favor that time though. Brandon Garrison grabbed Taylor’s miss as Pope called timeout with 59 seconds on the game clock.

Already without Lamont Butler (fouled out) and Jaxson Robinson (reaggravated his wrist injury) for the final four minutes, Pope had to get creative. He elected to break out a similar action to what we saw in the loss to Alabama over the weekend. In what KSR’s Brandon Ramsey described as a “Peja-action counter”, Pope let his playmaking big man go to work.

It worked to perfection.

The play against Alabama was set up the same way as the one above. Oweh received the ball beyond the top of the key to initiate the action. He dumped off a short pass to Amari Williams just inside the top of the key. Oweh cuts toward the basket while Brea sets a screen to free him open. Brea then rescreens for Williams — who makes his move toward the rim — before filling in that space for what wound up being an easy kickout pass for Williams, leading to an open Brea three-pointer against the Crimson Tide.

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It played out in nearly identical fashion against Oklahoma. Only this time, the Sooners got caught trying to switch on Brea’s initial screen, leaving Oweh wide-open underneath the basket for an easy two. Williams had no trouble finding him either. And even if Oklahoma recovered and contained Oweh, Brea would have likely been open for a three-pointer in the same spot.

Kentucky had to get a bucket in this situation, and Pope drew up a beautiful play to get it done.