Say hello to the bad guy: Mark Pope admits to two technical fouls last season

Kentucky’s loss at Georgia raised a question around Big Blue Nation: Has Mark Pope ever gotten a technical foul? If there was ever a time to earn one, Tuesday night in Athens might’ve been the spot to get T’d up, but Pope kept his composure during an ugly night in Georgia. When Pope got home, a caller to his radio show asked if he had ever been T’d up in the past. Pope replied, “Yep, I got two last year. I got one at Kansas in a win and I got one at Baylor involving some water in a loss.”

Up against a 10-second clock, Tom Leach ended the call-in show before Pope could further explain his badboy history. But here at KSR, we have nothing but time and high-speed internet that hasn’t gone out yet, so here’s more on Pope’s two technicals at BYU last season.

Proceed with caution. No more Mr. Nice Guy.

“One at Kansas in a win”

Pope was T’d up in BYU’s biggest win of the season last year, the upset of Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse. The technical foul may have fueled the win, too. A postgame story was titled, “Mark Pope lit the fuse in BYU’s victory over No. 7 Kansas, his players did the rest.”

Pope earned the inspirational T for arguing an offensive foul on BYU with under eight minutes left in the game and BYU down by two points in the Phog. His Cougars responded by winning the last seven minutes of the game by 14 points in the toughest environment in college basketball.

Pope said of the technical, “I went and sat back down in the huddle and what was beautiful was my guys were 100 percent composed.”

“One at Baylor involving some water”

Pope couldn’t keep a lid on it at Baylor when he slammed a water bottle onto the scorers’ table, earning a technical foul for the courtside waterfall that fell on BYU’s radio team. Pope wanted a jump ball to keep the Cougars in the game, but the home whistle signaled foul after the Jaxson Robinson deflection.

When asked about the call after the game, Pope replied, “That’s probably a question where I’d love to give you the answer I really think, but I won’t.”

It’s good to know Pope has it in him if Kentucky needs a technical. Keep a water bottle nearby at all times.