Kentucky head coach Mark Pope looked on as the Kentucky Wildcats host the Georgetown Hoyas at Rupp Arena in Lexington on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. Jeff Faughender/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Kentucky fans need to not panic after the ugly loss to Georgetown

Originally posted on Kentucky Wildcats on SI
By Andrew Stefaniak | Last updated Oct 31, 2025 12:24 PM ET

There is no question that the Kentucky Wildcats just suffered an ugly loss at the hands of Ed Cooley's Georgetown Hoyas. This was a game many thought the Wildcats would win by a wide margin, but the Hoyas came into Rupp Arena and dominated Mark Pope's team from start to finish.

Last night we put up an article talking about how ugly this loss was, but today I will try to calm down Big Blue Nation.

There is no question that this was an atrocious game from the Wildcats. That was the worst game of the Pope era thus far, and it has a chance to be the worst loss of the entire Pope era. In reality, that was one of the ugliest basketball games the Wildcats have played in a really long time.

Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

Every aspect of the game was dominated by the Hoyas, and I mean every single aspect. More frustrating than this was the fact that it seemed like the Hoyas just wanted this game more than Kentucky.

Obviously, this game meant more to Georgetown than it did Kentucky, but Coach Pope always does a good job of lighting a fire under his players, and that didn't seem to be the case in this game.

Kentucky was without three starters in this basketball game, and people do seem to be glossing over that fact. This team is going to look a lot different when Jaland Lowe and Denzel Aberdeen are back on the floor, which hopefully will be for the first game of the season on Tuesday.

Jayden Quaintance is further from being back, but he will be on the floor as we get closer to SEC play.

Kentucky fans have every right to be angry about the way this team played in the game last night, but Pope is going to get this team right.

Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

Trent Noah, Kam Williams, and Collin Chandler all struggled mightily in this game, and they are going to get better as the season goes on, but they have a ways to go.

This team needs to use this game to light a fire under themselves, as it was incredibly ugly, and a big game is coming up on November 11th against Louisville.

Kentucky fans do seem to be overreacting to this loss, but Coach Pope is going to use this to get his team ready for the start of the season. As Aaron Rodgers said to Packers fans years ago, "Relax."

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

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