Mark Pope ‘well aware’ of the importance of rivalry with Louisville
Mark Pope doesn’t need a reminder of what Kentucky vs. Louisville means in the bluegrass.
Pope spoke about the in-state rivalry with the Cardinals during his postgame press conference on Wednesday. As he put it, there’s nothing to say to him about the matchup despite not being in it in nearly three decades and never coaching in it before.
“Um, no, no, no, no,” Pope said. “I’m well aware of the beauty of this rivalry.”
The Wildcats as a team won’t need it to be noted to them either. They may not know what it means yet in the state considering they haven’t played in it either but they’ve played enough elsewhere to know what a game of that kind of level is like.
“The answer is probably no. You probably have to experience it to do it,” said Pope. “But I also am blessed with guys that are – I have seasoned guys. I have guys that have, you know, played in big-time rivalry games so it’s not like a foreign concept to them. So this is just a little level up, right. So it won’t be unfamiliar to our guys.”
Kentucky and Louisville have been playing for over a century now as they’ve met in every season now since 1982. UK leads that all-time record at 39-17, including two straight wins by an average margin of 21 points. The Wildcats have also won five of the last six and 13 of the past 16 going back to 2010.
This will be a different look for the matchup, though, with it being the debuts for Pope and Pat Kelsey. Each of them also have all-new teams out of the transfer portal and with their recruiting classes to play each other with. Kentucky is No. 5 in the nation coming in at 9-1 overall with one of the top offenses in the country. Louisville is then now at 6-4 overall after having lost three of their last four.
Basketball means a ton in the state with them both as all-time programs in the sport. That’ll once again be the case when they take the floor at Rupp Arena in Lexington on Saturday.
“It’s exciting. It’s awesome,” said Pope. “We love it and we hate it and we all the things.”
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