Kentucky’s Bigs Are Throwing Punches - Literally - and It’s Paying Off
Something’s shifted in Lexington. After a humbling 25-point loss to Vanderbilt on Jan.
27, Kentucky head coach Mark Pope knew his team needed more than just a tactical adjustment - they needed a mindset change. Specifically, the Wildcats had to find a way to bring more physicality to the paint.
And with a thin frontcourt rotation and no reinforcements on the horizon, the solution had to come from within.
So Pope and his staff turned to an unlikely tool: boxing gloves.
Yes, Kentucky’s big men are now warming up for practices and games by throwing punches - not at each other, but at assistant coach Mikhail McLean, who’s taken on the role of makeshift sparring partner. It’s part of a new pregame ritual designed to fire up the frontcourt and get them mentally and physically ready for battle in the paint.
“It’s the first thing we do when we walk into the gym,” said sophomore forward Andrija Jelavic, one of the four bigs currently anchoring UK’s interior. Alongside junior forwards Mo Dioubate and Brandon Garrison and freshman center Malachi Moreno, Jelavic has been tasked with holding the line while projected NBA lottery pick Jayden Quaintance remains sidelined with a knee injury - out since Jan. 7 and missing nine straight games.
The boxing warmups are followed by what Moreno affectionately calls the “tunnel of doom” - a gauntlet of UK staffers wielding pads as the bigs fight their way to the rim, finishing through contact and chaos. It’s not just for show. Since implementing the routine, Kentucky is 3-0, with wins over Arkansas, Oklahoma, and most recently, a gritty comeback against Tennessee.
The results speak for themselves. Against Arkansas and Oklahoma, the Cats dominated the glass and racked up second-chance points.
Even when Tennessee won the rebounding battle by 15 boards, Kentucky still controlled the paint, outscoring the Vols 44-24 inside and edging them in second-chance points, 14-12. That kind of physical edge is exactly what Pope was looking for.
“You have to get yourself to a place where you can still execute, still make decisions and reads - but you’re embracing the physicality,” Pope said. “It’s kind of a response to all those things that has been good for our guys. Just to give them permission, actually, to embrace the physicality of the battle and to do it from the very first possession.”
That last part - “from the very first possession” - is key. Pope and his staff recognized that the shock of game-speed contact can take a few possessions to adjust to. The boxing drills are designed to eliminate that lag, to jolt players into game mode before the ball even tips.
And it’s not just about toughness. It’s about mindset. Jelavic explained that the Arkansas game was the turning point - the moment the team fully committed to initiating contact instead of absorbing it.
“That’s when the boxing gloves started and everything,” he said. “I just found some situations when I can punch a guy, make contact with a guy, that isn’t being seen by the referees. But it means a lot to our team, even when you sometimes make a foul.”
That edge - walking the line between legal contact and a message-sending bump - is something every good frontcourt learns to master. Moreno, the freshman who continues to impress with his feel for the game and motor, echoed that sentiment.
“When we go into practice, Coach McLean will wear these little boxing gloves on his hands, and he’s just like, ‘Hit me,’” Moreno said. “I think it’s just to emphasize, when we go into these games, we gotta hit people, we gotta go get the rebounds, and we gotta bring the physicality to them - not let it be the other way.”
For Kentucky, this isn’t just about a quirky warmup. It’s about identity.
After that lopsided loss to Vanderbilt, the Wildcats had to decide who they wanted to be. The answer?
A team that doesn’t wait to get punched - they throw the first one.
And with postseason positioning on the line, that identity is going to be tested. Kentucky has won eight of its last nine and now sits second in the SEC standings, but the road ahead is no cakewalk.
Six of their final seven regular-season games are against teams ranked in the top 40 of KenPom. The lone exception?
South Carolina.
Next up: a Top 25 showdown in Gainesville against Florida. The Gators, defending national champions and current SEC leaders, are the most physical rebounding team in the country. They lead the nation in rebounding differential - a staggering plus-15 per game - and are anchored by junior center Rueben Chinyelu, a bruiser averaging over 11 boards per contest.
It’s the kind of matchup that will test every inch of Kentucky’s newfound physical edge. But if the boxing gloves have done their job, the Wildcats won’t be caught off guard.
“It’s a feeling as a player,” Pope said. “You walk into a cold gym, and you get warmed up and loose, and you do all this stuff by yourself.
And then the first possession, all of a sudden, there’s the collision of contact. It’s a violent, vicious collision that you don’t actually experience in warmups because everyone’s trying to keep each other safe.
Once the game starts, nobody’s trying to keep anybody safe.”
That’s the reality Pope is preparing his team for. And so far, they’re responding - not with hesitation, but with fists up and eyes locked in.
Kentucky’s bigs aren’t just showing up. They’re coming out swinging.