- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 1,170,180
- Reaction score
- 59
For a few grueling seconds, Mark Pope’s soul left his body, with the Kentucky men’s basketball coach’s sullen facial expression saying it all.
Then, with a flick of the wrist, his star player banked it right back into place.
In one of the more eventful and chaotic four-second sequences in NCAA tournament history, Pope’s Wildcats team gave up a go-ahead 3-pointer to Santa Clara with 2.4 seconds remaining only to immediately respond with a 3 of its own, with Otega Oweh firing it off the glass from just past midcourt as time expired to send the game into overtime and ultimately deliver Kentucky an 89-84 victory in a first-round matchup on Friday, March 20 in St. Louis.
REQUIRED READING: Otega Oweh saved Kentucky's season Friday. He might have done more than that
While Oweh played the role of hero on a day in which he scored a career-high 35 points, it was Pope’s range of emotions to the waning seconds of regulation that stood as some of the enduring images from the Wildcats’ thrilling triumph.
After Allen Graves buried a 3 for Santa Clara to break a 70-70 tie in the 7-versus-10 matchup, Pope looked out at the court stoically after intently providing defensive instructions to his players only seconds earlier. He remained that way as Oweh’s shot went up and raised his arms in joy after it passed through the net and calmly said “Let’s go” to his players as they passed by him.
Kentucky went on to outscore Santa Clara 16-11 in the extra period to move on to face No. 2 seed Iowa State in the second round of the tournament on Sunday.
Any fear and disappointment Pope might have felt after Graves’ shot would have been understandable.
Though Pope, a team captain on Kentucky’s 1996 national championship team, was greeted with excitement when he was hired by his alma mater in 2024, his second squad at the school fell well short of the massive expectations that greeted it. The Wildcats went 21-13 in the regular season and finished ninth in the SEC, despite having a roster worth a reported $22 million. That roster, though, was built in part around a big man coming off a significant injury from the previous season who only appeared in only four games this season (Jayden Quaintance) and a point guard whose poor shooting made him a curious fit for Pope’s 3-heavy offense (Jaland Lowe, who, for good measure, was also severely limited by injuries this season).
Pope guided the Wildcats to a Sweet 16 in his first season in 2024-25 and improved to 46-25 at Kentucky with the win Friday.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mark Pope feels every emotion of March Madness after Otega Oweh game-tying shot
Continue reading...
Then, with a flick of the wrist, his star player banked it right back into place.
In one of the more eventful and chaotic four-second sequences in NCAA tournament history, Pope’s Wildcats team gave up a go-ahead 3-pointer to Santa Clara with 2.4 seconds remaining only to immediately respond with a 3 of its own, with Otega Oweh firing it off the glass from just past midcourt as time expired to send the game into overtime and ultimately deliver Kentucky an 89-84 victory in a first-round matchup on Friday, March 20 in St. Louis.
REQUIRED READING: Otega Oweh saved Kentucky's season Friday. He might have done more than that
While Oweh played the role of hero on a day in which he scored a career-high 35 points, it was Pope’s range of emotions to the waning seconds of regulation that stood as some of the enduring images from the Wildcats’ thrilling triumph.
After Allen Graves buried a 3 for Santa Clara to break a 70-70 tie in the 7-versus-10 matchup, Pope looked out at the court stoically after intently providing defensive instructions to his players only seconds earlier. He remained that way as Oweh’s shot went up and raised his arms in joy after it passed through the net and calmly said “Let’s go” to his players as they passed by him.
Kentucky went on to outscore Santa Clara 16-11 in the extra period to move on to face No. 2 seed Iowa State in the second round of the tournament on Sunday.
Any fear and disappointment Pope might have felt after Graves’ shot would have been understandable.
Though Pope, a team captain on Kentucky’s 1996 national championship team, was greeted with excitement when he was hired by his alma mater in 2024, his second squad at the school fell well short of the massive expectations that greeted it. The Wildcats went 21-13 in the regular season and finished ninth in the SEC, despite having a roster worth a reported $22 million. That roster, though, was built in part around a big man coming off a significant injury from the previous season who only appeared in only four games this season (Jayden Quaintance) and a point guard whose poor shooting made him a curious fit for Pope’s 3-heavy offense (Jaland Lowe, who, for good measure, was also severely limited by injuries this season).
Pope guided the Wildcats to a Sweet 16 in his first season in 2024-25 and improved to 46-25 at Kentucky with the win Friday.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mark Pope feels every emotion of March Madness after Otega Oweh game-tying shot
Continue reading...
