Mark Pope has spent years proving he can build an offense that hums.
From Yoeli Childs and Jake Toolson to TJ Haws at BYU, his teams have consistently moved the ball, made decisions quickly and piled up efficient possessions. That track record followed him to Kentucky, where his offenses have never finished lower than No. 52 in KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency rankings across seven combined seasons at BYU and Kentucky, and three of those teams ended up in the top 20.
The challenge has been the other side of the ball.
Kentucky’s 2024-25 team, derailed by injuries and finished at 22-14 before losing to Iowa State in the NCAA Tournament round of 32, was only Pope’s second squad to crack the top 50 in adjusted defensive efficiency. And if the modern title blueprint matters, that gap is hard to ignore: 23 of the 24 NCAA champions since 2022 have finished in the top 20 in both offensive and defensive efficiency.
This year’s Wildcats, ranked 23rd in the AP preseason poll and set to open Tuesday against Manhattan at Rupp Arena, are not being framed as a national title favorite. But if they’re going to push into that conversation, the formula is obvious: get the offense back to Pope’s standard and keep the defense climbing.
“We like to coach guys to make decisions,” Pope said this preseason. “And so if you come in with unbelievable processing speed - which we try and recruit guys with processing speed - and you come in with a kind of innate IQ for the game and feel for the game, then your decision-making is elevated. And then we rep it out and rep it out and rep it out.”
That offensive identity took a hit last season. Kentucky shot just 23.9 3-pointers per game, well short of the 30-35 Pope wanted, and the Wildcats’ offensive efficiency dropped from 10th nationally in 2024-25 to 40th last season. The roster construction played a part, with Kentucky leaning more into frontcourt size and defensive flexibility through additions such as Mouhamed Dioubate and Jayden Quaintance, while even Tulane transfer Kam Williams was brought in with 3-and-D value in mind.
The bigger issue was at point guard. Jaland Lowe, expected to start, was limited most of the season by shoulder problems, and Denzel Aberdeen had to handle lead-guard duties in a role that didn’t suit him.
“(T)hat was a place where we struggled all year long,” Pope said on his radio show after the season. “Creators deal with pressure.
Creators earn guys better shots. Creators make shots for themselves, and that’s a space where we’re going to have a high, high focus as we build this roster for next year.”
Pope clearly made that a priority in roster building. He brought back center Malachi Moreno and described him as “a creator of space at the five.”
He also added playmakers in Zoom Diallo, Alex Wilkins and freshman Mason Williams. The headliner, though, was Iowa State forward Milan Momcilovic, last season’s top 3-point shooter in the country and a player who stretches defenses simply by being on the floor.
“I think this team on the offensive side of the ball is long and skilled,” Pope said. “It can really shoot. It’s probably the best shooting team I’ve ever had.”
Still, the most intriguing part of this Kentucky team may be the length Pope has assembled on defense. In the three exhibition games, the Wildcats used a starting five that included 6-foot-6 guards Diallo and Wilkins, 7-footers Moreno and Ousmane N’Diaye, and 6-9 small forward Momcilovic.
If Kam Williams is fully back after a setback in his recovery from a Jones fracture, he should be part of that mix too, along with 6-8 forwards Braydon Hawthorne and Justin McBride and 7-foot backup center Franck Kepnang.
“I don’t think I’ve played on a team with this much length,” Momcilovic said after an exhibition win against Little Rock. “... We’re going to be good defensively this year.”
Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland saw the same thing after Kentucky beat his team in an exhibition. He said the Red Raiders had open looks near the rim, but Kentucky’s length made it difficult to reverse the ball quickly enough to create passing angles.
“You’ll see a lot of possessions (this season) where it looks like there’s open guys everywhere but it’s just hard to see them because our length is imposing,” Pope said. “And then our rotations have got to be really sound.”
That’s the heart of the equation now. Kentucky has the size, the shooting and the playmaking to make the offense dangerous again. The question is whether the defense can stay disciplined enough to match it, especially when pressure forces rotations and decisions.
Pope believes the pieces are there.
“If we have five guys on the floor that are elite-level decision makers on the offensive side and on the defensive side - we don’t talk about decision-making enough on the defensive side - then you have a team that can win huge,” Pope said.
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