The Kentucky Wildcats head coach has entered history for the wrong reason. Mark Pope is now tied for second all time in Kentucky history for most 20-point losses for a Wildcats head coach, according to Corey Price. The worst part of this is that he reached this mark in just 75 games. He is tied for second with five 20-point losses since he’s been. This is not a stat that he would want to be in.
Kentucky Wildcats List of 20-point Losses
Pope managed to tie for second on this list in just 75 games. Other coaches on this list include John Calipari, Eddie Sutton, Rick Pitino, Tubby Smith, and Adolph Rupp. Every single one of those coaches took 130 games or more to reach 4-7 20-point losses. Rupp had the most with seven of them, but it’s not that crazy considering that he had the most games coached with 1,066.
Pope is tied on the list with Calipari and Sutton, who both also have five 20-point losses. They were both well over 75 games coached, though. Sutton did it in 130 games, and Coach Calipari took 533 games to get five. This makes it look even worse for Pope. He didn’t start coaching at Kentucky too long ago and is already on the wrong side of history.
The Kansas Game
Tuesday night’s game against the Kansas Jayhawks is the game that tied Pope for second. From start to finish, the Jayhawks controlled the whole game and managed to keep the lead. Tre Whit led all scorers with 30 points on 11/16 shooting. Tyran Stokes added 23 points and 10 rebounds on 8/19; they both also made four threes in the game.
Kentucky couldn’t do anything to stop those two players and ended up getting blown out. This was a loss the Wildcats want to forget about. Now, because of this loss, Coach Pope is tied for second on a list that he shouldn’t want to be on. A list that took him fewer games than any other coach to get on.
The next couple of games should be easy ones for the Wildcats before they play Indiana. Pope is on the wrong side of history because of Kentucky’s loss. Now, they just have to forget about that one and move forward. The last thing Coach Pope would want is to take second by himself before this season ends.
Kentucky Wildcats Make Unwanted History Under Mark Pope