Mark Pope believes in Mo Dioubate and Otega Oweh's defensive ability

The Kentucky Wildcats left Rupp Arena on Friday with a much-needed clean blowout victory over the Eastern Illinois Panthers. After a rough performance on the defensive side of the ball against Louisville, the Wildcats bounced back with a terrific performance on that end of the floor on Friday in their 99-53 win over the Panthers.

Kentucky allowed just 53 points, but forced Eastern Illinois to shoot just 33 percent on 17-52 shooting overall on the entire night, as well as 6-18 from three. It wasn't just the low percentages where you can tell the Wildcats had a stellar performance on defense. It was actually the multiple scoring droughts throughout the game that helped Kentucky open up their huge lead quickly. Headlined by an 11-minute stretch in the first half where the Wildcats allowed just 4 points, they also started the second half on another run, which was the final hammer in their dominating showing.

In that incredible defensive performance, Mo Dioubate showed out with a double-double after struggling on the road at Louisville. The versatile forward finished with 20 points on 8-9 shooting, 11 rebounds, two steals and two blocks. He is known for his versatile ability on defense, and that was fully on display. Mark Pope saw his performance Friday, and saw improvement. He knows Dioubate's ceiling on that end of the floor, and he had very high praise for he, as well as Otega Oweh's defensive ability after the game.

"(Mo Dioubate) and Otega (Oweh) should be vying for the best defensive players in the country right now. So far, they haven't been close, and that's okay, but for us to be great, they gotta get there and and I thought we saw some good signs from Mo."

Speaking of Dioubate in particular, the 6-7 forward had his first breakout game as a Wildcat, a sign of hopefully more to come. Pope loved what he saw from him on Friday, and he knows he's a big part of the team's defensive success, a place in which he says they're leaving a lot on the table. "I was proud of his focus. I didn't think he was great defensive first half, but I thought he was great. He imprinted his his self in the game on the offensive glass and in the second half, I felt like he finally got around to having some impact defensively. I think we're leaving a lot on the table in terms of how disruptive we can be, and so I thought he made some progress toward that."

The two Wildcats can be elite defensively, and Pope knows that Dioubate's performance can be a sign of what's to come for the team on that end of the floor, and he also knows Oweh can really back up the SEC Player of the Year hype if he locks in on defense, especially if he wants to end up having an All-American worthy season.