Mark Pope takes responsibility for Kentucky’s lack of energy against Auburn

Kentucky came into Saturday’s matchup with #1 Auburn hoping to pull off a major resume win, but instead, Auburn came out of the gates quickly, and the Wildcats were unable to get a rythm going. By the first media timeout, Auburn was already leading by double digits, which then turned into a 15-point halftime deficit that the Wildcats weren’t ever able to overcome.

In fact, Auburn never felt fazed, as they lead comfortably for much of the game. It seemed like Kentucky’s energy was lacking since the awful start to the game, and the rest of the game felt like they were unable to get some energy going that they really feed off of. Kentucky played sloppy offensively basically all game, committing a season-high18 turnovers which Auburn scored 21 points off of. Mark Pope took full responsibility for the lack of flow and energy from his Wildcats on Saturday. He talked about that in his postgame press conference.

“That ultimately falls on my shoulders. Credit goes to Auburn also. They’ve done this, you know they’re a good team. They made really hard shots tonight and their switching was a de-energizer for us and we did not respond to it as well at all. You know, we kind of let frustration mount a little bit and it was probably a whole slew of excuses. Late travel, late game, all the things with a quick turnaround. At the end of the day, that’s just what you deal with as a basketball player. I failed to lead our team today to have the energy that is required for us to come out and be great. It’s not a lack of desire. It was a whole cocktail of some energy miscues, some being sped up miscues. Some terrific shot making from Auburn. All put together resulted in a really, really terrible day for us.”

– Pope on lack of energy.

Not much went right at all for Kentucky on Saturday, against an Auburn Tiger team that now has 16 Quad 1 wins on the season, trying to hold firm the #1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats shot just 4-17 from three, getting the bulk of their points from inside the arc and the free throw line, as they went 28-38 from the line on the day. That was how Kentucky was able to score, because Auburn really slowed down the flow and energy of the offense. On the other side of the ball, Auburn scored from all three levels, shooting 52% overall, 12-26 3P, and 24-31 from the line.

Kentucky is going to have to regroup and get ready for a game they absolutely can’t afford to lose on Tuesday when the LSU Tigers (14-15 overall, 3-13 SEC) come to town for Senior Day in Rupp Arena, the final home game for the Wildcats.