Mark Pope can't gamble on three-point shooters in the transfer portal

Mark Pope has to make sure he is getting portal players who can shoot.

Mar 20, 2026; St. Louis, MO, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope looks on against the Santa Clara Broncos during the first half of a first round game of the men's 2026 NCAA Tournament at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images | Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats will be looking to replace a lot in the transfer portal, and one thing that Pope will need a ton of is three-point shooting. The three-point shooting this season for Kentucky outside of Collin Chandler was rough. Otega Oweh, Kam Williams, and Denzel Aberdeen all had a solid shooting season, but Chandler was the only true, reliable three-point shooter.

Williams is a player that fans expect to get much better from three next season if he is back in Lexington, but Pope is still going to need a lot of shooting.

Mar 22, 2026; St. Louis, MO, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope reacts during the first half against the Iowa State Cyclones during a second round game of the men's 2026 NCAA Tournament at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images | Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

When Pope took the job at Kentucky, he wanted to shoot over 30, perhaps even 35 threes per game, but in his two seasons, this has not happened. Coach Pope needs to get back to this for his offense to work at a high level, but he will need the roster to get it done.

While the portal is not technically open yet, some players have announced that they plan to enter the portal when it does open on April 7th. Some Kentucky fans have already started to list players whom Pope should reach out to in the portal. Many of the guard's BBN wants look good on paper, but don’t have elite three-point shooting percentages.

The point of this article is to make the case that Coach Pope can’t gamble with the players he brings in via the portal to be shooters. A great example of this is Jaland Lowe, as he came over from Pitt with a bad three-point shooting percentage. He didn’t play enough this year to really judge him as a shooter, but Pope doesn’t need projects like this.

Mar 19, 2026; St. Louis, MO, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope speaks during an interview at the practice session ahead of the first round of the men's 2026 NCAA Tournament at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Le-Imagn Images | Jeff Le-Imagn Images

He shouldn’t take guards who shot 31% from three. Pope needs to take players who are true knockdown shooters from deep, so the Wildcats offense next season will have a handful of players who are all capable of making threes.

There are some guards and forwards in the portal right now who had great seasons shooting the ball from deep and more will enter when it officially opens on the 7th. Coach Pope needs a bunch of players who shot 35% or better from deep, so the Wildcats are an elite team from beyond the arc.

If Kentucky isn’t a good shooting team, we will see a season similar to this one next year, so shooting is a top priority for the staff when the portal opens here in about a week.