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College basketball Reddit tears into Mark Pope for Kentucky’s horrible start vs. Tennessee

Want a one-word description of Kentucky's first half vs. Tennessee in the Sweet 16? Yikes.
Mar 28, 2025; Indianapolis, IN, USA;Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope in the first half during a Midwest Regional semifinal of the 2025 NCAA tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Goddin-Imagn Images
Mar 28, 2025; Indianapolis, IN, USA;Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope in the first half during a Midwest Regional semifinal of the 2025 NCAA tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Goddin-Imagn Images | Robert Goddin-Imagn Images

The consensus around Mark Pope's first season as head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats is positive. He produced a solid regular season and took UK to the Sweet 16. It's been a good debut. But there's one giant red flag flapping in the wind after a truly terrible first half against Tennessee: These blowout losses are a problem.

To be fair, as of this writing, Kentucky has not lost to Tennessee. They simply trail by 15 points at halftime of their Sweet 16 appearance. The deficit grew at large as 19 points. The Volunteers out-rebounded the No. 3 seed 22-13. They had more offensive rebounds (9) than the Wildcats had defensive rebounds (8).

The No. 3 seed losing to the No. 2 seed isn't the end of the world. Getting thoroughly dominated does a lot to flip perception towards the negative.

College basketball Reddit reacts to Kentucky's no-show vs. Tennessee

One Reddit user pondering if Kentucky's former coach had entered the building.

"I would believe you If you told me John Calipari snuck back in and tied up Mark Pope and threw him in the broom closet," crappysandwich said.

Kentucky no-showed in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals as well. Alabama rolled in a 99-70 victory. Obviously, the Crimson Tide are one of the best teams in the country. The lack of defensive energy is a worry.

"I like pope but these absolute beat downs are not acceptable on any level," IAM4UK wrote. "At the very least your team has to show up defensively if the shots aren’t falling. I know we’ve not been great defensively but this has happened multiple times this year where we look uninterested."

Other social media users wanted to see Pope bring more fire to the court.

Despite the rough first half, there was still a lot of optimism from Kentucky fans on Reddit and Twitter.

"I don’t wanna lose to UT, but all things considered, even if we lose this game in the sweet 16, I’m not gonna be upset. I’m not gonna be happy, but especially considering injuries, Pope has overachieved all UK fan expectations this season," Ken_The_Andal said. "And we have so much to look forward to now that Pope will have a full year of his own staff, returning players, his own recruits, and more transfers he knows will flourish in his system."

The Wildcats dug themselves into a hole in the first half vs. Tennessee but win or lose, the season will have left fans with more to look forward to in the future. For Mark Pope, that might lessen the sting a bit.

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