"Every single minute you're trying to talk yourself off a ledge": Mark Pope on Kentucky facing the battle "we never totally win" vs lower seed teams

Kentucky coach Mark Pope led the No. 3-seeded Wildcats to a 76-57 win over the No. 8-seeded Troy Trojans in the first round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament on Friday. The Wildcats led 37-25 at halftime before the Wildcats blew them out in the second half.

Most importantly for Pope, he avoided the first-round exit curse that had plagued the Wildcats during his predecessor, John Calipari's latter years. Calipari lost twice in the first round in the last two years of his Kentucky career. Last year, the Oakland Golden Grizzlies stunned Calipari's Kentucky 80-76 in the first round of the Big Dance on the back of lights-out shooting by star Jack Golkhe.

During his postgame news conference, Pope addressed dealing with the history of Kentucky's previous first-round defeats when playing against lower-seeded teams

"That's a battle that all of us face and we never totally win," he said (8:00). "So, we talk about being present all the time, but that's a battle; it's not something you do 100% of the time. It's like every minute you're trying to talk yourself off a ledge.

"I'm fighting so hard to keep bringing myself back to not taking on the magnitude of the history and all the things that are just too big. They all turn out to be distractions."

Mark Pope further revealed how his staff helped him not to overthink the game.

"I'll compliment my staff, Mikhail McLean grabbed me yesterday, he didn't curse me out, but he was like, 'Coach, we've had more time to prepare than we normally have, you gotta breathe right now and we're gonna be good. Just be in this moment,'" Pope said.

Mark Pope gets his first March Madness win

The win against the Troy Trojans was Mark Pope's first March Madness win after losing both of his games in the tournament with his previous team, the BYU Cougars. During his postgame news conference, Wildcats forward Brandon Garrison revealed the team's feeling at giving the coach his first Big Dance win.

"Coach Pope is a very special individual. ... All the talks me and him had," Brandon Garrison said, "it was just special getting him his first tournament win."

The Wildcats' last national title came in 2012 under former coach John Calipari and the pressure is always on from the Big Blue Nation (BBN), Kentucky's famously passionate fanbase to return the team to elite status.

Next, Mark Pope's Kentucky will face the No. 6-seeded Illinois Fighting Illini who beat the Xavier Musketeers 86-73 in their first-round clash. The path to a Sweet 16 spot and further glories at the Big Dance has opened up for the Wildcats in Pope's first season at the helm.