In the wake of Kentucky’s road loss to the Georgia Bulldogs, the latest in a recent flurry of questionable officiating extravaganzas, Mark Pope has announced that he and his staff are doing an in-depth study of the whistle in Kentucky’s first two SEC games.

“Based on our whistle in our first two SEC games, we’re doing an in-depth study right now,” Pope said on his weekly call-in show.

During both bouts, the former of which was at home against Florida, Kentucky is -30 in total free throw attempts compared to their opponents. In the Georgia game specifically, they were -19. These aren’t normal metrics, and Mark Pope knows it.

A Learning Process

In addition to studying the footage, the staff have been in correspondence with the SEC in order to, according to Pope, “learn about the whistle.”

“We’re not interested in what the rules are, we’re interested in the rules that are being called,” he said. “We want to push the envelope as far as we can toward the rules that are being called more than just following the rules that are written.”

While there is sure to be much debate about the former statement regarding the officials’ ability to impact the outcome of a game, disgruntled fans and watchers alike have a new reason to hope for improvement with the whistle going forward.

Not only can officiating such as that in the Kentucky-Georgia game negatively affect a team, but it damages the experience for onlookers as well.

The aforementioned match tipped off at 7:00 p.m., set to end by 9:00 and usher in LSU-Missouri, which was slated to jump right as the buzzer sounded on the former. But due to the prolonged nature of a game that is constantly stopped by whistles and monitor reviews, Kentucky-Georgia didn’t end until just after 9:30; a half-hour beyond the allotted time.

Even the broadcast team for LSU-Missouri recognized the madness, chanting “Foul on Kentucky!” when the channel finally switched over to their game. A true anomaly.

If that’s what it took for the issue to potentially be fixed in the long run, then so be it. The wait will not be long to see the aftermath of the situation either way, as Kentucky remains on the road against the Mississippi State Bulldogs this Saturday, Jan. 11.

Either way, Pope will never point to the officiating as a reason for a loss, rather citing that if Kentucky can control the variables they can control, they will win.

“When we’re good, the whistle won’t determine wins or losses,” he said. “We will determine wins or losses. I always want my players to know that. At the end of the day, this game will never be taken out of our hands. We can find a way to win this game, regardless of how the whistle sounds.”

Kentucky did not lose Tuesday’s game to Georgia due to poor officiating, but it certainly did not help. In total, 45 fouls were called and 57 free throws were shot (+19 in Georgia’s favor), as the game went a half hour past the allotted time.

While Big Blue Nation can certainly be biased sometimes, national media members even found the officiating “disgraceful.”

After the game, Kentucky fans did some digging into the officiating crew and found that one official is alleged to have been involved in an NBA “game-fixing” scandal.

In 2007, Tim Donaghy was the sole NBA official to be caught in said scandal, following an investigation by the FBI. However, there were two officials ranked ahead of him in games that covered the points spread. One of those officials was Olandis Poole.

While he was never confirmed to be investigated and no allegations of misconduct have ever been substantiated, he no longer officiates in the NBA and has transitioned to college basketball. Interestingly, Poole was a part of the officiating crew on Tuesday night and made multiple controversial calls, including this flop of the century.

Poole’s recent history with Kentucky is not positive. Twitter/X user WildcatsTongue discovered that since 2020, Poole has refereed seven Kentucky games away from Rupp Arena with Kentucky having a 2-5 record and -37 point differential in those games.

One such game was against Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament last season. In that game, Poole is alleged to have blown his whistle 22 times, all against Kentucky.

Again, all of this is alleged and no allegations of misconduct have been validated of Poole. However, there are certainly a lot of strange circumstances.

In each of their three losses this year thus far, Kentucky has faced one looming criticism following the final buzzer: the inability to contend physically with their opponents.

Rebounding is a “Major Issue”

To a certain extent, this is a fair point. In wins and losses, the Wildcats have struggled to rebound the ball all season, despite holding a slight statistical advantage in that category overall. Take the recent win against Brown as a prime example, a game in which Kentucky was out-rebounded 35-29. Regardless of the 88-54 win, many folks have still stressed the glass as one of the team’s most urgent issues. Following the 82-69 loss to Georgia, wherein the Cats lost the board-battle 41-34, Coach Mark Pope and forward Andrew Carr concurred.

“It’s back-to-back games where we gave up 15 offensive rebounds… It’s unacceptable for us,” he said. “… that’s a major, major issue for us is the glass,” said Pope.

Carr emphasized the same, saying, “We got to get more nasty, more angry when we’re playing… get better on the defensive glass.”

So it’s safe to say that those words don’t fall on deaf ears, and in no world can, or should, Kentucky escape this argument entirely. But in the same breath, it can be fairly stated that much of the physical effort the team has shown has been immediately met with a negative whistle on either end. Many will scoff at such a suggestion, but on paper, the discrepancies are painfully apparent.

The Call-Based Catalyst

At one point during the second half of the aforementioned loss to the Bulldogs, the chasm between Kentucky’s attempts at the strike and Georgia’s was an astonishing 22; 31 to 9. Even considering a last-minute string of free throws for the visiting Wildcats, the final tally of attempts was 38 to 19 in the Bulldogs’ favor. Georgia made 29 (76%,) and Kentucky 15 (79%.)

The home team’s 38 chances at the line fell only two points shy of half their average points scored per game as a team this season, at 80.

On the night as a whole, Kentucky actually scored one more field goal than Georgia and made only one less three. Both teams shot below 30% from the arc and hovered around the 40% mark from the field in total. Georgia won by 13. It doesn’t take rocket science to spot the difference.

A Sour Standard

Simply put, in their matchup, Georgia wasn’t held to the same standard as Kentucky as far as the ability to play physical basketball goes. In their last two games combined, one at home and on the road respectively, and both in the SEC, Kentucky trails their opponents’ attempted free throws 43-73.

Foul numbers and free throws won’t be exactly the same for both teams, sure, but a difference as severe as that one calls for a closer look.

It’s an odd, contradictory sort of scenario, where the SEC is hailed as the toughest conference in college basketball, yet attempting to play tough lands, certain teams, most often the visiting team (or the blue team, if you will,) in a free throw hole.

And it isn’t just Kentucky fans who’ve taken issue with the trend.

Dan Wolken, a columnist for USA Today Sports, posted on X (Twitter) multiple times during the Kentucky-Georgia game. His first read, “If what I’m seeing tonight is an accurate representation of SEC basketball officiating, road wins should count double. Home teams getting away with some stuff.” The post was sung to the chorus of nearly 2,000 likes.

“An officiating disaster class,” he said in another. “Disgraceful stuff.”

Keep The Faith

But while the problem may be relatively easy to diagnose, a potential solution seems virtually impossible to dissect. Like every other aspect of the game, officiating is a fallible piece in the larger basketball puzzle. How, or why, it often works the way it does is unclear; all that can be said at this point is that, lately, Kentucky has consistently been given the short end of that stick.

One way or another they’ll have to find a way to win in spite of these disheartening stats, and if the Big Blue Nation take comfort in anything, it should be in Mark Pope and this team working tirelessly to do so.

The Cats will have a chance to bounce back in their second consecutive road game against the Bulldogs, this time taking on 24th-ranked Mississippi State. You can catch the battle on SEC Network this coming Saturday, Jan. 11th, at 8:30 p.m.