Kentucky Beat: Mark Pope gets first career NCAA Tournament win as Wildcats muscle their way past Troy

It wasn’t always pretty, but the Kentucky Wildcats broke the game open in the second half and led by as many 25 points in their 76-57 First Round win over the No. 14 seed Troy Trojans Friday night in Milwaukee.

Kentucky head coach Mark Pope, who played on Kentucky’s 1996 National Championship team, now has his first NCAA Tournament win as a head coach. The Wildcats are also back in the Second Round after last year’s disappointing First Round loss to Oakland.

Pope has said multiple times this season that Kentucky may have to piece things together with all the injuries they have battled. That’s what Friday night’s performance looked like, with starting point Lamont Butler battling through a left shoulder injury to set the tone for the Wildcats on the defensive end.

Make no mistake, the Wildcats identity is on the offensive end of the floor. But as mistakes piled up on that end of the floor for Kentucky Friday night- missed lay-ups and free-throws, turnovers, and first half struggles from three-point range- they made up for it with a strong effort on the defensive end.

Kentucky held Troy to 34.9 percent shooting from the floor, including just 8-32 from three-point range. The Trojans came in shooting just 29.9 percent from three-point range, while averaging around 25 attempts per game from beyond the arc. The Wildcats took advantage of Troy’s struggles from beyond the arc and forced the Trojans to attempt 32 three-pointers, well above their season average from three-point attempts.

Troy is a team that competes really hard. That was evident in their biggest non-conference games at Arkansas, Oregon and Houston and in their three wins in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. Kentucky was going to have to be relentless on the boards, and they out-rebounded Troy 39-38. That effort includes out-rebounding Troy 32-27 on the defensive glass.

While Kentucky kept competing on the defensive end, their offense found some rhythm late in the first half and into the second half. Eventually, four players ended up in double figures for Kentucky. Otega Oweh lead those players with 20 points on 8-13 shooting, and he also added a team-high six assists Friday night.

Andrew Carr had 11 of his 13 points in the first half, including two three-pointers and two blocks. Koby Brea had 13 points and three three-pointers, while Brandon Garrison also had 13 points on 5-7 shooting with six rebounds. Three newcomers – Carr, Brea and Garrison – all had a big hand in delivering Pope his first NCAA Tournament win.

“It’s important. Coach Pope is a very special individual,” Garrison said. “He trusted us three to bring us on the team this year. When we first got there, all the talks me and him had, it was just special getting him his first tournament win.”

“Brandon is, like I’m telling you, he’s fun. He’s sometimes wrong but never in doubt, and I love that about him,” Pope said. “That’s what you want your players to be. And he’s doing really special things. I mean, his float game has grown to the free throw line. His three-point game is really, really dangerous right now. His decisiveness on turning down decisions to get to the good one. You know, he’s a huge, high-level decision-maker for us.

“He’s got the ball in his hands. And you guys will see him, if we have three cutters going at the same time, he’ll be like a turn down — a turn down, a turn down and finally choose the right one. And that’s advanced level like processing in his mind. He’s been really great.”

Then there’s freshman Collin Chandler, who had nine points with two three-pointers and a perfect 3-3 free-throw shooting in 10 minutes off the bench.

“It’s been super cool to watch Otega and Collin together,” Pope said. “Otega is Collin’s biggest cheerleader. Like his big brother. Collin makes a good play, Otega is the first one to run over and dap him up and hype him up. Collin makes a young play, and Otega’s the first to say it’s okay. Having mentors on the team and these two together is pretty special for us.”

Lamont Butler, who didn’t score on Friday night, was still an important part of Kentucky’s win Friday night. He set the tone on the defenisve end, just as he has all season. A healthy Butler makes this Kentucky team better because of his experience and defensive pedigree.

Amari Williams gutted through a back injury sustained in practice on Thursday, and he had a team- and game-high 13 rebounds along with four assists and five points. Pope said after the game he thinks Williams will be fine for Sunday’s Second Round game against No. 6 seed Illinois.

Regardless of the injuries this Wildcats team is battling, they’re going to keep battling on the court. They got past a Troy team that competes really hard on Friday night. Now, Illinois will be waiting for the Wildcats in the Second Round on Sunday. But as we have seen all season, the Wildcats are up for any battle even with their injured warriors. 

This Kentucky team just keeps on muscling, as they have all season. Sunday should be no different.