Mark Pope discusses Kentucky's disastrous final minutes against Missouri

Kentucky finished the game with terrible execution in their loss to Missouri.

Kentucky Wildcats guard Jaland Lowe (15) shoots during game against the Missouri Tigers | Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images | Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

Kentucky basketball had their backs against the wall coming into the Missouri game, as they did not want to start conference play in a hole going 0-2 with their entire season overall already in one. Well, their backs were certainly against the wall in the final minutes of their loss to the Tigers in Rupp Arena. After showcasing an offense that was painful to watch for much of the game, the Wildcats used their transition game to go up eight with 4:37 left. Then, it was a disastrous finish.

In a game that featured many scoring droughts for Kentucky, that caught back up to them in the final minutes. Kentucky fans didn't think their team would blow an eight-point lead with 4:37 to go, let alone on their home floor, right? Well, they were wrong. Missouri ended the game on a 15-2 run from that point on, stunning everyone in the arena. That poor execution Kentucky showed throughout the game really showed itself in the final minutes, as they had three turnovers in the final 3:44, including a scoring drought of 2:17 to close out the game, all while the Tigers went on that massive run.

Mark Pope talked all about the disaster that was the final minutes of Kentucky-Missouri. He was happy with the decision-making, but it was the execution that he continued to criticize throughout his postgame press conference. “I was happy with our decision-making. I think we just didn’t execute. We just didn’t complete the plays that were there," Pope said on the UK Sports Network. "You think about the last couple of possessions where we have Malachi’s (Moreno) backdoor to Otega (Oweh), Otega’s layup in transition, (Brandon Garrison's) backdoor to Kam (Williams): All right plays. They’re the right plays. One just went off our fingertips inexplicably, one was just executed poorly, and one was just a layup that didn’t go down."

Then, there was the final play. Kentucky point guard Jaland Lowe checked out of the game with 54 seconds left when the Wildcats were leading 68-67. He checked back in with 10 seconds left out of a timeout as Kentucky was down by three. In a pivotal final offensive possession for the Wildcats, Lowe took a contested pull-up jumper with five seconds left that ended up not even hitting the rim. Mark Pope revealed what the actual final play was supposed to be: "We were trying to get J-Lowe downhill. He had so much success kind of rejecting on that side. So we just were trying to get to a reject again and have a little action on the weak side. And we just didn’t, we went over the ball screen, and the pace of that, again, was slow, and we actually ended up not getting downhill, and it was a broken play."

Lowe going downhill would have opened up the perimeter for a shooting threat like Kam Williams, who was in position on the play. It sounds like Pope drew up a nice a play, but Kentucky crumbled with their execution, which was the theme of Wednesday's loss. Check out the final play for yourself below.

Kentucky's last offensive play, coming out of a timeout. pic.twitter.com/ARcyVmHoJq

— Tristan Pharis (@TristanUda) January 8, 2026