Kentucky fans should love how Mark Pope handles officials after Dan Hurley 's press conference

Kentucky coach Mark Pope handles officials the right way.

Nov 12, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope reacts on the sideline against the Duke Blue Devils during the second half at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images / Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

UConn Coach Dan Hurley has sparked some recent conversation on social media after his post-game out spurt in a press conference after his team lost to Memphis in the Maui Invitational. Hurley was very upset with some of the officiating and discussed this after the game.

Many on social media didn't feel that Hurley handled this situation the right way, and it was a bad look from him. Hurley is the best coach in college basketball and the back-to-back National Champion for a reason, but he could have handled this a little bit better.

Kentucky Coach Mark Pope has a different approach to officiating, which he recently discussed. Here is what Coach Pope had to say about officiating after a recent game, "For me, I want our players to feel the same way I do. The referees actually have no power over whether we win or lose the game. Calls are really hard. If I can be disciplined and keep my focus on the game, I think it helps our players be disciplined and help their focus come what may from refs. What we've done is we all had a really serious meeting with all the players and the whole staff, and we just agreed we would let Lee Anne (Coach Pope's Wife) handle the refs and were just going to work on the game."

It seems like Coach Pope has the right idea when it comes to dealing with the referees. Noting good comes from screaming at refs during a game and talking about them after the game has finished.

Coach Pope's players have done the same thing, as they don't seem to interact with officials even when they disagree with the call.

Control what you can control is a mantra in sports, and Coach Pope has clearly taken this to heart when teaching his players not to talk back to the officials. This will help the Wildcats in the long run.