WATCH: Mark Pope previews season finale at Missouri, SEC Tournament

The end is near for Kentucky basketball — well, for the regular season, at least. The Wildcats will wrap up the 31-game schedule on Saturday in Columbia, hitting the road to take on the Missouri Tigers. It felt like yesterday Mark Pope was coming down from the rafters of Rupp Arena at Big Blue Madness to open his debut campaign in Lexington, and now, we’re one game away from the start of postseason play.

“It’s been so fast — too fast, actually,” Pope said Thursday. “We get to play our last game of the regular season on Saturday and it’s just been an epic, dramatic, incredible, wonderful, painful journey. It’s been all of the things you want and we can’t wait to get to the postseason.”

The UK head coach previewed that matchup against Dennis Gates and the Tigers, ranked No. 15 nationally in yet another Quad 1 opportunity for the Wildcats.

“I’m a huge fan of his,” Pope said. “I love the way he carries himself and honors the game. I’m a big fan. He’s one of the special coaches in college basketball.”

From there, Pope talked about the importance of winning the SEC Tournament — they’re not going to Nashville to lose — while also providing updates on Jaxson Robinson’s successful wrist surgery and Kerr Kriisa’s season-ending foot injury. Their years are over, but the overall health of the team otherwise is very good.

He talked about all of that and more in his final sit-down press conference of the regular season on Thursday. Take a look:

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