Mark Pope again says fatigue was an issue, this time late against Auburn

Kentucky was on the wrong side of a big swing in Saturday's game in the second half that gave Auburn momentum.

Feb 21, 2026; Auburn, Alabama, USA; Kentucky Wildcats guard Otega Oweh (00) loses control of the ball as Auburn Tigers guard Kevin Overton (1) defends during the first half at Neville Arena. Mandatory Credit: John Reed-Imagn Images | John Reed-Imagn Images

With injuries making Kentucky's rotation more thin, as Jaland Lowe, Jayden Quaintance and Kam Williams have all been out, a couple of Wildcats have had to take on bigger roles and with that comes a lot of minutes. That has certainly been the case for both Otega Oweh and Denzel Aberdeen, who have been play 35-plus minutes for a number of games in a row now.

After Tuesday's loss to Georgia, Mark Pope said he has to figure out a way to lower some guys' minutes, Oweh and Aberdeen in particular. "We gotta find a way to get our guys' minutes down," Pope said at the time. "Probably can’t have Otega at 38 and DA (Denzel Aberdeen) at 36. Our actual performance suffers as those guys get fatigued."

Then on Saturday, Mark Pope reiterated that comment, but added that players off the bench need to start stepping up and help guys like Oweh and Aberdeen out who are playing extended minutes.

"We had so much fatigue on the floor," Pope said on Kentucky's troubling stretch of play early in the second half against Auburn. "It's something we've been trying to monitor. We're trying to manage it with our limited roster. We got to have a couple other guys step up and play a little bit more minutes for us."

Feb 21, 2026; Auburn, Alabama, USA; Kentucky Wildcats forward Mouhamed Dioubate (23) goes up for a shot against the Auburn Tigers during the first half at Neville Arena. Mandatory Credit: John Reed-Imagn Images | John Reed-Imagn Images

This season, bench points is a stat category that has been hard for Kentucky to win, but especially over the last month with the shorter rotation. On Saturday, the bench contributed eight points for the Wildcats, with big men Mo Dioubate and Brandon Garrison providing four apiece. That is certainly not what you need when you have three starters playing 30-plus minutes. It's certainly baffling when you factor in that Kentucky's backup guards did not contribute in the scoring column, as Jasper Johnson and Trent Noah, who have both been spark-plugs off the bench multiple times this season, did not make a single shot. Johnson only played two minutes, while Noah played 19.

Kentucky really is going to need more production from their bench. It's a nine-man rotation right now, but you should still have more than four points combined from that many players. Not to mention that the Wildcats dealt with plenty of foul trouble on Saturday, including guys like Otega Oweh, Collin Chandler and Brandon Garrison getting some picked up early. That alone should be enough for some guys to step up off the bench.

We will see how things play out with the bench production moving forward, because everyone knows they need more of it with how many of their games have continued to play out in the final minutes, mostly the last two. Kentucky continues to be in positions to win, but costly mistakes down the stretch have kept them from finishing teams off.