"That's on me as a coach": Mark Pope rues Kentucky 'lacking toughness' in Texas game

It has been a tumultuous season for the Kentucky Wildcats in Mark Pope's first year as coach. They suffered their sixth conference loss on Saturday, falling 78-82 to the Texas Longhorns.

Looking back on the contest, Pope did not mince words when addressing the team's performance, as per Wyatt Huff, a Wildcats writer for Sports Illustrated.

“We talk about all the time just moving on to the next play," Pope said. "We didn't do it well enough to give us the chance to earn to win this game."

Per Huff, Pope "loved their energy, but the toughness lacked down the stretch," and added:

"That's on me as a coach."

Mark Pope cited a handful of key plays in the game that ultimately decided the outcome despite his team playing hard and fighting until the end.

The Wildcats held a five-point lead with a little less than four minutes remaining at 69-64, but they were unable to hold onto it. A final run of 11-0 by the Longhorns proved too much for Kentucky to overcome.

"We just weren't our normal selves in that aspect of the game in the last three minutes and 45 seconds," Pope said postgame (2:15). "And for me, I gotta find a way to help our guys be the way that we've been ... and I didn't help our guys do that well enough tonight."

Mark Pope believes his team is really close to breaking through

Despite the sting of yet another conference loss, Mark Pope emphasized that his team is right on the cusp of turning the corner and putting it all together.

They have shown flashes of brilliance throughout the season but have struggled to maintain that level of play for a full 40 minutes.

"We have a good team. We're good enough to win," he said (6:05). "We'll figure that part out. We're going to get there. We're at that point in the season where these late-game situations, they're going to become increasingly heated.

"We have incredibly painful moments from this game where we weren't present. And we will learn from that. And we're going to continue to get better."

Prior to the Texas game, Kentucky had a strong performance against No. 5 Tennessee, defeating the Volunteers 75-64 at home. They also earned SEC wins over No. 3 Florida, No. 22 Mississippi State and No. 8 Texas A&M last month.

So, Mark Pope's squad clearly has the potential to make a late-season surge and be a factor in the postseason. The Wildcats have six conference games remaining, including matchups against No. 2 Alabama, No. 1 Auburn and No. 21 Missouri.