On the heels of yet another loss featuring a brutal free throw discrepancy, this time to the Alabama Crimson Tide at home, Mark Pope reassured fans that he, the staff and the team are working tirelessly to overcome what has essentially become their achilles’ heel: SEC officiating.

‘We’re spending an insane amount of time right now on fouls,” he said. “We’ve gone back and categorized every foul that has been called on us over the last five games, and we’re seeing some trends where we can really, really aggressively attack and make some strides, and that’s really important for us to do.”

Currently slated at 3-2 in SEC play, the Wildcats have still managed a solid stretch of conference basketball in spite of their strike-related struggles. To Pope, enduring the pain wrought by this trend is worth it if the team grows as a result.

Pain to Progress

“There’s gonna be times where it’s super painful, but as long as that pain is turned into us growing, and preparing, and getting better, it’ll be worth it… It’s given us some real direction, and I think there’s a good chance that we have a chance to make some massive improvements.

As far as those improvements go, they’d have to be mainly concerned with finding ways to level free throw numbers going forward; whether that means Kentucky shooting more or opponents shooting less, something will have to change for the ‘Cats to keep pace in SEC play.

In addition to attempting to “learn” the league and the whistle, as he put it, Pope admitted to sharing many fans’ frustration with the officiating as of late.

“There are times when I internally and sometimes externally lose my mind with some of the officiating, but the truth is, usually when you go back and watch the film, the officiating might not be what you’re used to or how you would correlate things with the book, but there is some consistency with the officiating.”

“…that’s a place where we can really grow.”

And grow they must. While it is encouraging to hear Coach Pope detail the team’s efforts to combat the whistle, only time will tell if a strategy forged in the film room will translate onto the court.

But with each of the next two games being in-conference and on the road, it’s likely we won’t have to wait long to find out.

In the aftermath of his first loss at Rupp Arena as the head coach of Kentucky, wherein Alabama prevailed in a 102-97 shootout, Mark Pope made a strong point in the post-game.

“We will punish teams in the future that guard us like this,” he began, referencing Kentucky’s scorching shooting performance on the day in spite of the loss. The Wildcats shot 47% from the field, as well as 40% from downtown; both metrics were marginally better than that of the Crimson Tide.

“Every game gives you a new challenge…”

What’s New is Old

Yet it was recurring problems that kept Kentucky at arm’s length against Alabama. Not only were they out-rebounded, though barely so, but they shot 14 less free throws than the visitors in red, tallying 16 makes on 20 attempts to Bama’s 29-34.

Exactly why Kentucky always seems to lose close games due to that margin is an uncomfortable question, and one that may pose a “new challenge” all on its own. That’s a ball we’ll have to kick down the road for now, though.

Either way, it comes down to the guys in the jerseys for Coach Pope, and he won’t have them painted incorrectly in any way.

“I got beautiful guys, my guys are fighting for each other… there are zero part of my guys that are in this for themselves at all. That doesn’t exist at all. These guys are fighting for each other,” he said, with an unfamiliar frustration.

‘Til The Battle is Won

And fight they have. If this Kentucky team has done anything well, it’s returning a punch when they take one. After each of their three losses prior to the one at hand, the Wildcats won the next game out. It’s been a crucial, positive pattern in a year full of new experiences and uncharted territory.

With a two-game Tennessee road trip up next, UK will again be forced to respond. Their first opportunity comes at Vanderbilt, who just took down the sixth-ranked Tennessee Volunteers in the same building.

As is the case with every SEC game this season, it’ll be a powerful test. But if history has taught us anything, it’s that Kentucky will be eager to “ring the bell.”

Many Kentucky fans have been waiting eagerly hoping for an injury update on Kerr Kriisa, and on Monday evening Coach Pope gave us an update.

During his weekly radio show Mark Pope had this to say on Kerr Kriisa’s injury, “Kerr is getting to that point where his recovery has been completely predictable and scripted,” Pope said. “We’re going to know more in the next few weeks about whether this is going to kind of turn the corner and be really quick on the quicker side, or if this is going to be a more complicated recovery.

Kriisa suffered a broken foot in the game vs Gonzaga on December 7th. The original timeline for Kriisa’s injury was 3-6 weeks, we are currently already at the 6-week mark for his injury.

Although this update doesn’t lead us to believe that Kerr will be returning in the very near future, he has made some strides in his recovery. Kriisa has been spending small segments where he is moving around without his walking boot which is a positive.

From the sounds of the update, don’t expect Kriisa to return in the next couple of weeks. We are most likely looking at a timeline that is very late in the regular season or possibly even during the SEC Tournament play.

However, if Kriisa isn’t able to return this season he will have a great argument to earn a medical redshirt and return to Kentucky for another season.

Andrew Carr

Another key injury that Kentucky has been dealing with lately is the injury with Andrew Carr. Carr has been playing through a lower back injury for weeks now. You can clearly see the injury affecting him during game time as he does not look 100%

Carr was only able to contribute 18 minutes in Saturday’s game against Alabama although that was partly due to foul trouble as well.

“[He’s] undergoing every treatment under the sun,” Pope said Monday. “He was with a specialist today and got a new treatment that we’re hopeful about. He’s working hard. We have the best performance team there is.” Pope said Monday via his Radio Show.

“When you go back and watch film of the game Saturday, there are times when you can see the pain just plastered all over his face as he’s trying to run back and transition defense,” Pope said on Andrew Carr.

Pope also added how difficult lower back injuries can be for players and more specifically for big men.

Coach Pope is hopeful that this bye week can help get Andrew Carr back to full strength.

Kentucky will be back in action Saturday when they travel to Nashville for a face-off with Vanderbilt.