Kentucky tweaked their pregame routine before Arkansas game

Kentucky tweaked their pregame routine before their game against Arkansas on Saturday.

Jan 31, 2026; Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope during the second half against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Bud Walton Arena. Kentucky won 85-77. Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images | Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

The Kentucky Wildcats bounced back in a huge way on Saturday when they picked up a signature win over No. 15 Arkansas on the road. It came after a game that, once again, saw the Wildcats come out very slow, leading them fall behind quickly as they never were able to come close to making the comeback. But, Saturday's game was different.

Mark Pope has been searching over the last week to change up Kentucky's pregame routine. After the win over Arkansas, Pope confirmed that they did in fact change up their normal routine in practice leading up to the game.

"They changed some of our routine. In practice, the last two days, we had a huge emphasis on the first four, six minutes of a scrimmage each day," Pope said on Saturday following Kentucky's eight-point win against Arkansas. "And the guys really worked. It's hard in practice to simulate the intensity of game, but these guys really tried to do that. It really came from our team and our staff of figuring out a better way to approach this. And it doesn't guarantee that we're not gonna have slow starts, but it certainly was credit to our guys for being ready to go from the tip tonight, I thought they were terrific."

Jan 31, 2026; Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA; Arkansas Razorbacks forward Trevon Brazile (7) and Kentucky Wildcats guard Otega Oweh (00) exchange words during the second half at Bud Walton Arena. Kentucky won 85-77. Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images | Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

On Monday night, Pope went much more in-depth about what exactly the Wildcats changed up in their usual routine before games, specifically for road games. Kentucky's pregame routine was altered and it paid off.

"We actually changed up our pregame (routine). We rolled into town and we always go quote-unquote smell the gym the night before. We didn't do that just to simplify the schedule," Pope said on his radio show Monday night. "We shortened our hour-long pregame on-court prep and consolidated that where we went from, you know, really coming back in the locker room for two minutes to one. What kind of bearing that had on the way our guys started, I'm not sure if it's too small a sample size to know, but, you know, we'll take the outcome for sure."

Pope says you have to be cautious with change, but with the situation Kentucky has been in, this type of change may be an exception, because it seemed to work for his team on Saturday.

"I think you have to be cautious with change, certainly, because you don't want change to become the norm, right? You want to have routine, like routine actually helps athletes perform at a higher level. But I do think sometimes change for the sake of change in the right way can add focus and help you be more intentional about the the the issues you're trying to address. And so somewhere in there, certainly our guys found a way that to come out, you know, with all the folks in the world, because, because their focus and their physicality in the first five minutes of this game was elite on the road in a really, really hostile environment."

"I'm proud of, proud of how the guys responded. We do have a group that seems to when their backs are to the wall, either because of situation or because of their own missteps," Pope went on to say about his team. "They sure have responded in a brilliant way for most of the season."