Mark Pope calls for more toughness after Kentucky’s “incredibly disappointing” loss to Georgia

There’s no way to spin it: Kentucky’s 82-69 loss to Georgia stinks. After picking up one of their best wins of the season, they turned the No. 6 Cats in a clunker as they failed their first SEC road test in disappointing fashion.

As in the losses to Clemson and Ohio State, Kentucky struggled against Georgia’s physical game, allowing the Bulldogs to win the rebounding game 41-34 and get to the line twice as often. Georgia was 29-38 from the charity stripe tonight, Kentucky 15-19. With all the foul trouble and stops, the Cats struggled to get into a flow, shooting just 37.5% from the floor and 24.0% from three, the second-worst marks of the season behind the loss to Ohio State. Mark Pope sounded as troubled by tonight’s loss as the one the Cats took in New York a few weeks ago.

“This one, it hurts,” he told Tom Leach. “It’s incredibly disappointing.”

Pope mentioned rebounding early and often when discussing what his team did wrong in Athens, again pointing to the offensive glass that has eluded the Cats at times this season. Georgia had 13 offensive rebounds to Kentucky’s 12, leading to 17 second-chance points for the Bulldogs.

“The glass was a huge thing. One thing about the glass is that it lets you play slow and extend possessions, and you force tough shots at the end of a team kind of possession and give up an offensive rebound. So to start with the glass is really, really problematic.”

“This is the second game in a row we’ve given up 15 offensive rebounds, and that’s a big problem.”

What keeps happening to the Cats in games like this? Pope said his team has to learn to tune out distractions, especially in road environments.

“Our guys know what we have to do; they know what their job is. We’re physically able to be able to do what we have to do, but with everything that’s going on on the court, you know, you end up getting distracted by what just happened and not focused on that moment and that’s just a real thing. It just is.

“Some people call it toughness. Some people call it struggle. Some people call it emotion, but what real toughness is is being able to do your job in the moment from second to second to second. That’s actually toughness. And we didn’t have that for a big exhibition today.”

Kentucky goes back on the road Saturday to face No. 1 Mississippi State. 14, a much better and more physical team than Georgia. What can they do between now and then to avoid another loss in a row?

“It’s drilling it. It’s getting as many habits as you can. It’s understanding what you’re up against. You know, especially when you’re on the road, it gets tied together. Those are all ingredients that we have. But , man, we’re going to face challenges throughout the season. Every game is going to expose us in one way or another, and answering these challenges is the whole deal. That’s what it’s all about.”