Mar 23, 2025; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope reacts during the second half in the second round of the NCAA Tournament against the Illinois Fighting Illini at Fiserv Forum. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-Imagn Images Benny Sieu-Imagn Images

Mark Pope shares a message about Kentucky's first practice along with some highlights

Originally posted on Kentucky Wildcats on SI
By Andrew Stefaniak | Last updated Sep 22, 2025 12:24 PM ET

Big Blue Nation can rejoice as the first day of practice is finally here, which means the 2025-26 Kentucky basketball season is right around the corner.

Kentucky's first game is on November 4th, so it's over a month away, but the first exhibition against Purdue is on the 24th of October, which is just a month away. This basketball team has a lot to work on with the season approaching quickly.

One of the struggles with a team like this one that has a lot of new faces is that sometimes players aren't able to adjust to the play style of the new players, and the roster doesn't click. It sounds like Kentucky doesn't need to worry about this because this team is really close on and off the floor, which is an excellent sign for the season.

After the Wildcats' first practice, Coach Pope shared some highlights and a message via his social media pages.

Here was Pope's message to Big Blue Nation after the Wildcats first practice, "Practice #1 in the books. Hard work & so much fun. Couple clips of BG and MM making plays and Mountain Mamba making shots. Can’t wait ‘til 2pm for #2. #BBN"

Let's also take a look at the highlight video that Coach Pope posted after the conclusion of practice.

Practice #1 in the books. Hard work & so much fun. Couple clips of BG and MM making plays and Mountain Mamba making shots. Can’t wait ‘til 2pm for #2 #BBN pic.twitter.com/NYTlRetEE7
— Mark Pope (@CoachMarkPope) September 22, 2025

The three players that Coach Pope shouted out after on social media were Brandon Garrison, Malachi Moreno, and Trent Noah. All three of these players are going to be important for this team this season, especially the two centers.

While the Wildcats await the return of Jayden Quaintance, the other two centers, Garrison and Moreno, are going to have to play well early in the season while the Wildcats await the return of their star center.

Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

Coach Pope, according to many college basketball experts, has the deepest roster in the game, so he and his players are going to be in for a really good season.

Having good practices is very important because the Pope offense has a lot of parts to it, so the Wildcats need to find a way to learn this offense early before the season gets rolling.

It's great that Coach Pope is posting these videos so fans can get a look at which players are performing well during practice. This team has a long way to go, but it is going to be a special season of Kentucky basketball.

This article first appeared on Kentucky Wildcats on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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