Mark Pope wants his team to be capable of going on big scoring runs

Pope wants runs to be one their defining features this season.

Oct 29, 2024; Lexington, KY, USA; Kentucky Wildcats guard Otega Oweh (0) and forward Andrew Carr (7) celebrate from the bench after a dunk during the second half against the Minnesota State Mavericks at Rupp Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images / Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

Kentucky started out their final exhibition on Tuesday against Minnesota State a little bit slow. Up until around the 6-minute mark of the first half, the Wildcats couldn't find any separation. After that, though, a 17-0 run sparked the way for a 20-point halftime lead, with Kentucky then ultimately winning 98-67.

Mark Pope knows how the Wildcats can put up points in a flash, and fans got a taste of that on Tuesday.

There was all kinds of weirdness (at the beginning of the game). Amari sat down, there was kind of that. We're playing weird rotations against a really well-coached good defending National Champion team, and we had all kinds of in-and-out weirdness the first 14 minutes. I think the score was 23-20, maybe at 6:02 on the clock, or maybe it was all the way to 5:52 or 5:53. By the time we got down within 3 minutes and 13 seconds, our guys have gone on a 17-0 run.

- Mark Pope on the team going on a run.

The experience of this Kentucky team is going to be a big aid in that this season with their ability to fix things in a hurry. Not only that, but if they continue to play as aggressive as they showed, that will only increase their ability to have runs like they did on Tuesday. Pope wants it to be a defining feature of the team.

We hope that's a defining feature of our team. It's two things about it. The first part of that is, our guys are super resilient. We have a team that can go fix things. We're a veteran team, we see the game, we understand the game, we can go fix things. Then the second part is, we know it's always coming, man. As aggressive as we are offensively, and as solid as we can be defensively, we always know it could be in the first five minutes of the game, it could be in the last seven minutes of the game. There's going to be a two or three minute run that's kind of a death null where our guys, where we get it done. I like those two features of this team.

- Pope on the team's defining features.

Having as much experience as they have can only help with fixing things, especially when the schedule gets tough this season, and they're not afraid to be aggressive either.