Mark Pope says Kentucky is an 'energy monitoring, managing team'

Pope says there was a lot of 'weird' energy in Wednesday's game.

Dec 11, 2024; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope yells to his players during the second half against the Colgate Raiders at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images / Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

Kentucky basketball was back in action on Wednesday, hosting Colgate in Rupp Arena after a week on the road. After a 17-0 start, Kentucky allowed Colgate to go on a run to get back into the game. After the first media timeout, many thought it would be a route. But after that run, the Wildcats were stagnant for much of the first half. They finally went on a run in the second half that helped give them some breathing room and get the 78-67 win.

Mark Pope acknowledged there was some 'weird' energy throughout the game, different than their normal energy. Pope says energy is such a big part of the rhythym of how they run on both offense and defense, and all night it was a little off.

"We are an energy monitoring managing team. The energy on the floor is really important to us. We kind of were having that discussion through the game and trying to discover for ourselves, not just why the energy kind of got off. I don't know if it was because of 17-0 maybe it got off, and maybe they made some really good shots, and maybe it was a little fatigue, or maybe it was the rotation difference. Maybe it was not having either of our point guards on the floor. ...We are trying to become masters of energy and you know, games like this can help you learn a little bit more about yourself and hopefully they are helping us a little bit. ...We had some weird energy. There was all kind of weirdness. The 17-0 was a little weird. I think it made it weirder and we got weird. Our guys rang the bell the way that they do and I was really proud of them."

- Pope on managing energy.

Kentucky will now look to get their energy right when the Louisville Cardinals come to town on Saturday. They'll surely also feed off the energy of the crowd in the rivalry matchup. Having Lamont Butler back would also help the flow and the energy levels. He is such a big part of the motor of this Kentucky team.