Who will Mark Pope's men face in first-round of March Madness? Looking at Kentucky Wildcats' NCAA Tournament prep

Modified Mar 20, 2025 04:02 GMT

Syndication: The Tennessean - Source: Imagn — Who will Mark Pope's men face in first-round of March Madness? Looking at Kentucky Wildcats' NCAA Tournament prep - Source: Imagn

Kentucky coach Mark Pope has done a fine job in leading the team to the NCAA Tournament in his first season at the helm. The Wildcats also secured a No. 3 seed for March Madness and have an interesting first game lined up in the first round.

Kentucky will face the No. 14-seeded Troy Trojans in the first round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament on Friday. The game will tip off at 7:10 p.m. ET from Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The Trojans (23-10) made it to March Madness after winning the Sun Belt Tournament. On Monday, Pope said that he trusts all his players to deliver the goods in the NCAA Tournament.

"I think all of our guys are primed. I really do." Pope said. "I think these couple of days are really important for us to get as healthy as we can, and we'll ramp it up as we go through the week. I think I have a roster of guys that are so excited to play in this tournament and eager to play.

"I think these young guys still have a bunch left in the tank, and I expect each of these veterans to have these moments that you think about, these one shining moments in the tournament. It's kind of the same way we've been all year. We've had different guys step up in different moments in games, and I expect that we're gonna see that a lot more moving forward."On players stepping up in the tournament."

Kentucky earned a No. 6 seed for the SEC Tournament this season. The Wildcats beat No. 16 seed Oklahoma in the first round of the conference tournament before suffering a 99-70 loss against No. 3 seed Alabama in the quarterfinals.

Now, it will be interesting to see whether Mark Pope's team can make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.