Mark Pope: Breaking News, Rumors & Highlights

Three reasons the #9 Kentucky Wildcats will beat Georgetown on Thursday

Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats are coming off a massive win over the #1 Purdue Boilermakers in an exhibition game, and now the Wildcats will get ready for Ed Cooley's Georgetown Hoyas.

Features

The Morning Bark

The Quiz of the Day

Score prediction for #9 Kentucky's exhibition vs. Georgetown

Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats are getting ready to play their second exhibition game of the preseason as the Georgetown Hoyas are coming to Rupp Arena.

Kentucky Wildcats News / Kentucky Wildcats on SI / October 27

Will Kentucky run a platoon this season with the deepest roster in college basketball?

There were a lot of positive takeaways for Kentucky fans in the dominant exhibition win over #1 Purdue, but one of the top takeaways was how fresh the Wildcats looked late in the game.

Mark Pope News / Kentucky Wildcats on SI / October 26

Kentucky had two areas to improve this offseason and Mark Pope got the job done

The Purdue exhibition has come and gone, and the Kentucky Wildcats dominated the #1 Boilermakers, which has Big Blue Nation fired up for the start of the season.

College Basketball News / Kentucky Wildcats on SI / October 25

Mark Pope raved about Malachi Moreno, Jasper Johnson for stepping up against Purdue

Kentucky got the unique opportunity of welcoming the #1 team into Rupp Arena on Friday night, as they faced off against the Purdue Boilermakers. The Wildcats were faced with circumstances though, as they were without point guard Jaland Lowe and star big man Jayden Quaintance, but they won, and in convincing fashion.

College Basketball News / Kentucky Wildcats on SI / October 25

Three stock risers from Kentucky's dominant win over #1 Purdue

Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats hosted the #1 Purdue Boilermakers into Rupp Arena for an exhibition game and won 78-65. Frankly, the Wildcats looked like the better basketball team from start to finish, and that was with Jaland Lowe and Jayden Quaintance not on the floor.

College Basketball News / Kentucky Wildcats on SI / October 25

Mark Pope's MVP in the win over #1 Purdue might surprise Kentucky fans

The Purdue Boilermakers came into Rupp Arena on Friday night ranked as the #1 team in the preseason rankings, and the Wildcats blew the doors off of them, winning this game 78-65.

College Basketball News / Kentucky Wildcats on SI / October 24

Mark Pope wants to apply as much pressure as possible on opposing teams this season

Kentucky basketball had a statement win in their exhibition game against Purdue in Rupp Arena, as they dominated the Boilermakers nearly the entire game.

College Basketball News / Total Apex Sports / October 24

Kentucky Basketball Bests Purdue Boilermakers In High-Profile Exhibition

When the final buzzer sounded at Rupp Arena on Friday night, Kentucky had just handed No. 1 Purdue a 78-65 reality check. Sure, it was only an exhibition game, but tell that to the near-capacity crowd that roared “Go Big Blue” every time the Wildcats pushed the tempo.

College Basketball News / Kentucky Wildcats on SI / October 24

Three things we learned from Kentucky's 78-65 blowout win over #1 Purdue

The most highly anticipated exhibition of the entire offseason took place on Friday night in Rupp Arena as the Kentucky Wildcats hosted the #1 Purdue Boilermakers.

Kentucky Wildcats News / Kentucky Wildcats on SI / October 23

Mark Pope says Jaland Lowe is recovering 'epically fast,' will proceed with caution

Jaland Lowe provided quite the scare for his team and Kentucky fans last Friday night in the Blue and White scrimmage when he collided with Otega Oweh and injured his shoulder, falling to the floor in pain as the entire building went silent.

Kentucky Wildcats News / Kentucky Wildcats on SI / October 21

Where is Mark Pope ranked among college basketball coaches heading into the 2025-26 season?

It didn't take long for Big Blue Nation to fully buy into Mark Pope as the head coach of the Kentucky basketball program. In year one of his tenure in Lexington, Pope took a team that he threw together in a month all the way to the Sweet 16 despite having multiple crucial players injured.

Kentucky Wildcats News / Kentucky Wildcats on SI / October 20

Mark Pope gave a positive update on Jaland Lowe's scary shoulder injury

The Blue-White Game was on Friday and Kentucky got a massive scare as point guard Jaland Lowe went down with a shoulder injury. It sounds like his shoulder popped out but they got it set back into place.

Kentucky Wildcats News / Kentucky Wildcats on SI / October 18

Mark Pope is confident in Kentucky's athleticism this season

Last year, Kentucky's defense was a glaring weakness. In particular, it was their on-ball defense that was sub-par, as they did not do a very good job of staying in front of their man and handling athletic players that can attack the rim at will.

Kentucky Wildcats News / Kentucky Wildcats on SI / October 16

Three reasons Kentucky basketball will win the NCAA Tournament

The Kentucky Wildcats will head into the 2025-26 college basketball season as the #9 team in college basketball, so Mark Pope has a team capable of winning it all.

Click here to get Yardbarker's Quiz of the Day emailed to you!

The 'World Series walk-off home runs' quiz

The 'Active 140-yard, two TD catch games' quiz

The 'Active NFL receptions leaders' quiz

The 'ALCS MVPs' quiz

College Basketball News / Kentucky Wildcats on SI / October 15

Jaland Lowe shares why he chose to play for Mark Pope at Kentucky

After his first season in Lexington with Lamont Butler as his point guard, Mark Pope was looking for a new PG1 with Butler being out of eligibility, and he found one in the ACC.

College Basketball News / Purdue Boilermakers on SI / October 15

Why Mark Pope Calls Kentucky's Exhibition Game Against Top-Ranked Purdue a 'Gift'

It's not often that a lot of hype surrounds an exhibition game in any sport. But fans are excited for a preseason matchup between No. 9 Kentucky and No.

Kentucky Wildcats News / Kentucky Wildcats on SI / October 14

National media member makes asinine take on Kentucky's Jayden Quaintance

The prized addition Mark Pope made in the transfer portal was bringing in Arizona State transfer Jayden Quaintance. Last season, as a true freshman for the Sun Devils, Quaintance averaged 9.4 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.6 blocks, and 1.5 assists per game.

Kentucky Wildcats News / Kentucky Wildcats on SI / October 13

Kentucky's KenPom ranking shows why the Wildcats can win the NCAA Tournament

All college basketball fans are very aware of the importance that comes with the KenPom rankings. If a team is going to be really good, it needs to be ranked high in both offense and defense on KenPom.

College Basketball News / Kentucky Wildcats on SI / October 11

Which recruits are visiting Kentucky for Big Blue Madness?

Kentucky fans have high hopes for Big Blue Madness this year as we get set for year two of the Mark Pope and Kenny Brooks eras. Last year, fans witnessed

Kentucky Wildcats News / Kentucky Wildcats on SI / October 10

Kentucky Coach Mark Pope discussed how he builds relationships in the transfer portal

With the new day and age of college basketball players are coming and going from one school to another all the time. This means that coaches need to do a good job of building relationships because you never know when a player is going to hit the portal.

Kentucky Wildcats News / Kentucky Wildcats on SI / October 9

Mark Pope explains why Kentucky is going to be a better rebounding team this year

Last season, there were two glaring issues for this Kentucky basketball team. The first issue was defense, with the second being rebounding. Kentucky had an elite offense in year one of the Mark Pope era, but these two things held the team back and ultimately led to the Sweet 16 loss to the Tennessee Volunteers.

College Basketball News / Indiana Hoosiers on SI / October 8

Indiana Basketball Praised by Kentucky’s Mark Pope Ahead of Season

Indiana basketball begins a new era in 2025-26 under coach Darian DeVries, and a rival coach is high on the Hoosiers' revamped roster. In the midst of answering a question about recruiting against Louisville coach Pat Kelsey on Monday, Kentucky coach Mark Pope slipped in a compliment about Indiana.