This stat during Mark Pope's time at Kentucky is alarming

Kentucky is coming off yet another embarrassing performance on the season as a whole after losing to Alabama 89-74 in a game where they were behind for nearly all of it. Alabama took the lead with 16:16 left in the first half of Saturday's game and never looked back. The Wildcats were even down double digits 12 minutes into the game, and the Crimson Tide stretched it to as much as 21 in the first half. Falling behind in games seems like a trend for this season, but what if I told you it has been common since Mark Pope's first season began?

You may remember last season where Kentucky had a 9-point comeback over Duke, going down by 10 in the first half, and even coming back after falling down nine twice late in the game. But that wasn't the only time Kentucky fell behind and had to climb back. Remember Kentucky's enormous comeback against Gonzaga in Spokane where they stormed back from down 16 at halftime, forcing overtime to steal the win? The point is, it's nothing new, and this season, they've had their fair share of deficits, including getting beat by 35 against Gonzaga, going down by as much as 18 against Louisville, and losing by 17 to Michigan State. But, they've managed a few comebacks, too, those being from down eight with 16 minutes to go against Indiana, before outscoring them 30-11 to close out the game, as well as coming back from down eight with 16 minutes left.

As you can see, Mark Pope has had his fair share of games where he found his team down early, and having to fight to come back. After Kentucky's loss on Saturday, where they were down by as much as 21 in the game, an alarming stat for Kentucky basketball under Pope floated around social media. For starters, Kentucky's record against power conference teams is just 18-17 since Pope took over at Kentucky. In those games, the Wildcats have trailed by at least 10 points in 17 of those, as well as 11 games trailing by 15-plus, and eight games falling behind 20 or more. It's pretty alarming. Matt Sak did some digging on X with just how often Pope's Kentucky teams have found themselves in a hole. It's a pretty interesting thread:

Under Mark Pope, Kentucky has played 35 games against P4 competition + Gonzaga + St John's + NCAA Tournament

They are 18-17

They have trailed by at least 10 points in 17 of the 35 games

They have trailed by 15 or more in 11 games

They have trailed by 20 or more in 8 games
— Matt Sak BBN (@MattSakR2NG) January 4, 2026

That's a very concerning stat. Kentucky fans may remember that Mark Pope said at the beginning of last year he loves collecting data in the first half. We'll, that's all fun and games until you can't win those games. Here's what Pope said after Kentucky's comeback against Duke last season: "I probably should've got a little more aggressive in the first half, but you're just collecting data, right?," Pope said on KSR postgame show. "We were getting pulverized in transition isolation and in ball screens. So we kind of went to a bunch of things in our bag."

That's all fun until you're sitting at 18-17 against power conference teams and have fell behind in half of those.