Kentucky’s Mark Pope met with the media on Friday ahead of his team’s game against Indiana.
Below is a summary of what Pope had to say about Indiana, and Hoosier guard Lamar Wilkerson, who Kentucky recruited heavily out of the transfer portal this spring.
Indiana (8-2) and Kentucky (6-4) tip at 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday at Rupp Arena in Lexington (ESPN).
For IU’s Darian DeVries pregame, GO HERE.
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On Lamar Wilkerson’s 44-point game vs. Penn State
“He made every shot and he got them out of his hands quick. He was really good. They scored 113 points in a game that actually didn’t have incredible a tempo to it. I think they’re doing an unbelievable job with how they’re playing offense right now. They’re really explosive. They have really talented guys and they’re really leaning in the skill set they have. He had been shooting poorly actually for four or five games. I think he was down in the low 20s percentage-wise in his previous five games before that and he had an eruption that was pretty significant. He played a great game.”
On recruiting Lamar Wilkerson — what he liked, what he remembers
(Note: Indiana and Kentucky were the finalists for Lamar Wilkerson as a transfer this spring)
“We love shooters. We love guys that make shots and he’s made a career of doing that. He’s got a toughness to him that’s pretty great. I love him as a kid. Like he’s actually a great young man. So he’s all the good things. He’s kind of worked his way up to get to where he is right now, and he’s a terrific player.”
On renewing the rivalry, what he sees from Indiana under Darian DeVries:
(Pope played for Kentucky from 1994-96)
“I love this game. I love all these games. What they’re doing over there right now is actually awesome because when you guys watch them play, you’re going to feel very much like Bob Knight Indiana, in the sense of they’re playing with unbelievable movement and motion and with high IQ. And so even that part of the style of play that they’re playing at right now is is pretty inspiring. And it just harkens back to a great tenure in Indiana basketball and I love the game. I have such great memories of playing in these games and I like it. I like it for us. I like it for fans. I like it for Indiana. I think it’s a great game.”
On defending Indiana’s screens
“They bring two players together in every different conceivable way. Okay, so they’re a huge slip team. They’re a huge push screen team. They’ll set incredibly violent physical screens. They’ll bring a third player together and kind of trick it up. They’ll go with live ball rescreen stuff. They’ll set screens underneath to kind of slip with you, and they set a lot of guard to guard screens and so they’re bringing two players together a lot to kind of manufacture some confusion.
“They do it really really well. So they’re going to test everybody they play this year. They’re going to really test their ability to communicate on the fly to make real physical forceful decisions on the fly based on a set of principles and it’s a is a new challenge for us. We haven’t faced a team that attacks the game like this and so it’s going to be a great challenge for our guys.”
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