Now at Louisville, former BYU center Aly Khalifa not surprised at Mark Pope's success: 'He's a big brother to me.'

Aly Khalifa was a key piece of Mark Pope‘s offense last season at BYU. As a 6-foot-10, playmaking center, he was a perfect fit for what Pope wanted to instill in the 2023-24 campaign. Khalifa averaged 5.7 points and four assists in 19.4 minutes per game for BYU before he (and Pope, to an extent) entered the transfer portal.

Fast forward nearly a full year later and the two still consider each other good friends.

“We don’t text daily or anything but we check in on each other,” Khalifa told KSR Wednesday. “He’s a big brother to me and to Noah (Waterman) as well. He’s a good guy. One of the closest guys I know. We check on each other now and then.”

Pope is now at Kentucky, having guided the Wildcats to a 3-seed in the NCAA Tournament where they’ll take on Troy this Friday in the opening round. Pope immediately brought his elite offense to Lexington and stunned the college basketball world with a slew of Top 15 victories. The immediate reaction to Pope’s hiring wasn’t always positive from the fanbase, but he’s thriving now and has the Big Blue Nation fully behind him.

“Not really,” Khalifa said when asked if he was shocked to see Pope’s early success. “He’s a great coach, that’s what he deserves, that’s what they expect as well from the head coach at Kentucky. It’s his dream job. We had a great year last year and this year he’s having a great year. Hopefully it goes on. But I’m not surprised at all. I knew he was gonna be good. He has a lot of great pieces from the portal he got. I wish the best for him.”

Khalifa took a different route from his old coach, joining UK’s in-state rival, the Louisville Cardinals. His three finalists in the portal were Kentucky, Louisville, and a return to BYU. Pope made a push, but Khalifa ultimately went Pat Kelsey and the Cardinals, a team that has also positively surprised the college basketball world in Kelsey’s first season as head coach.

“After I entered the portal (Pope) called me right away,” Khalifa said. “Of course he was a little busy with the press conferences and everything and then Louisville reached out and I was trying to figure out my stuff. I didn’t want to be in the portal for so long, cause last year it was just chaos. The portal is terrible in my opinion. But it was a great conversation. He wasn’t really hard on recruiting me but it was, if you want to come, we’re here for you, we want you and stuff like that at Kentucky. Of course I considered it. It’s Kentucky at the end of the day. But I’m glad I went to Louisville.”

Khalifa, who spent his first two college seasons at Charlotte, hasn’t played a game this season due to injury and won’t participate in the rest of the postseason, but he’s comfortable at his new home. He sees similarities between Kelsey and Pope (although he couldn’t help himself from sneaking in a joke about one glaring discrepancy: “Height difference — no, I’m kidding,” he said with a laugh), which helped make the transition smooth. Khalifa is redshirting this season with the expectation he’ll get to go up against his old coach when Louisville and Kentucky meet in the 2025-26 season.

“(Kelsey) really cared about me. Called me every day. On the visit, he was with me every second of the visit,” Khalifa said. “Coach Kelsey really showed how much he cared about me and of course when we knew about my redshirt, he was like you’re gonna come here, we’re gonna rehab you, get you in the best shape of your life, and come back next year. It’s going pretty well.”