Mark Pope wants all five players on the floor fully engaged in the moment

Pope says being fully engaged can help Kentucky handle the physicality.

Jan 4, 2025; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope claps on the sideline before the game against the Florida Gators at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images / Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

Kentucky basketball fell to the Georgia Bulldogs on Tuesday in their second true road game of the season, and they struggled the most in a partcular area, and that is rebounding and phycality. The Wildcats gave up 15 offensive rebounds for the second-straight game, and they were manhandled down low for much of the game, as Georgia set the tone nearly from the start.

How can the Wildcats handle the phsicality and improve their offensive rebounding? Mark Pope says it's about being fully engaged. All five players on the floor being engaged in the moment at all times is a big key, especially each player doing their own job on the floor. Pope expanded on that in his call-in radio show on Wednesday night. Actually, Pope is more worried about how the guards embrace it rather than their bigs.

"I actually have a little bit more concern right now about our one's, two's, and three's, and their smash down on short shots almost than I do about the physicality of our bigs. To solve this physicality and rebounding issue, which is solidly in my mind, ...it's gotta be all five guys engaged in the process physically every single possession, and that's where we had some slippage in this Georgia game that was pretty detrimental to us, was having full engagement on every single possession and holding ourselves to that standard. That's something we're gonna continue to work on. ...We do everything together as a team. That's one of the things that gives our team the potential to be great, to grow into a great team, is that we do everything together. Right now, solving this issue on the glass is something that's really important that we do all together - We have all five guys engaged doing our job, which is different based on what shots are taken every single time."

- on improving rebounding, physicality.

As Kentucky gets deeper into SEC play, the physical play is going to wear on them more and more. Fixing this rebounding issue and handling physicality better will only get more important with how physical and bruising a lot of teams in the SEC are. The Wildcats will face a tough road test on Saturday at No. 14 Mississippi State, another physical battle.