Recapping everything Mark Pope said after Kentucky's final home game of the season

Mark Pope's Kentucky Wildcats defeated the LSU Tigers 95-64 in its last home game of the season on Tuesday. Otega Oweh led the Wildcats with 24 points and eight rebounds. Three other players, Ansley Almonor, Brandon Garrison and Collin Chandler also scored in double figures for Kentucky.

Pope was asked how he had managed to imbibe togetherness in his players, who had joined the program just this season and, therefore didn't have much time to develop a bond with their teammates. The coach spoke about his wife, Lee Anne Pope, who played a key role in the process.

"I have Lee Anne," he said. "Lee Anne actually can do that, she's unbelievable at that. So I think if you ask them they would be like, 'I'm sad that we're not going to be with Coach Pope and really sad that we're not going to see Ms. Lee Anne.'"

Pope further reflected on Kentucky's culture by sharing how the team had also embraced the walk-on forward Zach Tow.

"Lamont Butler came to me about a month ago, he's like, 'Man, I think Zach deserves a jersey,' the coach said. "He hadn't got a jersey all year, he was on a one-day contract. So, in our pregame speech, Lamont had the pregame speech before the game today, and he presented Zach with a jersey. The guys lost their mind, Zach was in stunned wonderment."

Mark Pope then commented about the team's tumultuous stretch of games and emotions in light of Jaxson Robinson's wrist surgery, which will keep him out for the remainder of the season.

"The guys are devastated for him and really sad because he's such a massive part of this team," Kentucky's HC said. "At the same time, (the Wildcats are) resolved that, we know what we have today and we're going to go try and find a way to win with what we have."

"But these guys love Jax so much, Jax loves these guys so much, they've been on an epic journey together, it's hard to make sense of why he doesn't get a chance to finish this with these guys," Mark Pope added. "It's really brutal."

Mark Pope on what's next for Kentucky

Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope talks with forward Brandon Garrison (10) as he exits the game during the second half LSU Tigers at Rupp Arena - Source: Imagn

Despite losing Jaxson Robinson, his second-best scorer and arguably the best volume 3-point shooter on the team, Mark Pope expressed that he feels at ease, knowing that he would deploy the same lineup as Tuesday in Saturday's game against No. 15 Missouri. These comments came in light of the Wildcats having had to constantly shuffle their lineups due to injuries this season.

"I think we kind of have a vibe for the first time it feels like we're going to have the same guys out on the floor ... on Saturday as we did tonight, as we did on last Saturday," coach Pope said. "We haven't had that in almost two months and so, we're really excited about that and we're really excited about getting back focused in this late stretch."

Pope also urged rotation players, Travis Perry, Collin Chandler and Trent Noah, to continue to contribute in the coming games. He said that their readiness would factor heavily into Kentucky's potential post-season success.