Big Blue Nation has already made its frustration known after Kentucky’s narrow win over Northern Arizona on Friday night, and now one of the program’s most recognizable voices has weighed in too.
Jamal Mashburn didn’t sugarcoat anything when he appeared on TNT Tuesday night. The Kentucky legend pointed to the Wildcats’ uneven play and the lack of defensive consistency that has defined the early stretch.
“I think most people in Big Blue Nation are very disappointed at this particular time. They take their basketball very seriously,” Mashburn said.
“It just seems like this particular team, or I would say over the last couple of years with Pope’s teams, they’ll do something well and then the next game they won’t do it well. There seems to be a lot of inconsistency.
They have trouble guarding the basketball. Northern Arizona shot over 50% from three and also from two.”
That was the bluntest part of Mashburn’s critique, and it lined up with what the box score showed. Kentucky’s defense has been giving opponents too many clean looks, and Northern Arizona took advantage by shooting over 50% from both three-point range and two-point range.
Mashburn did point to one area that looked better, though.
“They moved the basketball today. 21 assists and just four turnovers.”
Even with that positive, Mashburn said the bigger conversation is already creeping in around Mark Pope’s program.
“This is going to be a long road, and I think a lot of people are going to start asking the bigger question: ‘What does Mark Pope’s future look like?’ I think that’s the elephant in the room,” Mashburn stated.
“It’s sad. I’m a Kentucky fan and obviously played there.
I want to see them do well; it just doesn’t seem like it’s clicking.”
He closed with another sharp assessment of how close that Northern Arizona game came to turning into a disaster.
“To win against Northern Arizona on a buzzer-beater almost…that’s not Kentucky Basketball, and that’s not championship basketball.”
Mashburn also brought up Tubby Smith while comparing different ways of fitting role players together.
“The only person that I’ve known that’s been able to take role players and kind of blend them together, and a lot of people don’t give him the respect he deserves, is Tubby Smith - but Mark Pope is not Tubby Smith.”
The message from Mashburn was plain: Kentucky’s level right now isn’t matching the standard people expect in Lexington. And after the scare against Northern Arizona, the Wildcats’ non-power-four schedule suddenly looks a lot less forgiving than it did before the season.
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