Mark Pope on Kentucky's season turning around: "We have the right guys to do this"

Mark Pope and his Kentucky basketball squad have found themselves in a hard place. As they sit at 5-4 on the season after losing every quality game they've played so far, everything has looked out of sinc in every one of those losses. No offensive flow, no off-ball movement, and minimal resistance on defense. That has translated to this team essentially having no response when they've gotten pushed around early in these games.

Despite the struggles so far this season, whatever the combination of issues may be that are causing it, head coach Mark Pope believes his Kentucky team can turn it around at get where they need to be. But, to get there, they've got to keep trying whatever they can and keep searching for answers. Pope has faith in his players to get things right.

"It's hard right now and we're reconsidering everything. It's not where you want to be at this point of the season, where you're trying to rethink everything you do. There's a lot of things that we know we can get done," Pope said during his Monday radio show. "We have the right guys to do this. We just for a number of reasons, we just haven't yet, and so it's going to take everything. It's going to take all the criticism and all the truth telling and all the encouragement. ...We're not now, but we're going to be a really good team. And I have so much faith in these guys, even though it is not showing itself on the floor, and so we are not even close to what we're going to be by the end of this season. ...We're gonna look back at this and be like, that was a brutal time, but look where we went and look what we accomplished."

What gives Pope confidence his team can right this rough stretch they're experiencing? A couple of key players have made 'meaningful' progress as of late. "I am seeing really meaningful progress in some of our guys. I've seen meaningful progress in Otega. He had his best practice he's ever had for me ever Saturday in terms of his commitment and willingness to buy into the minutia of the game and have the details really matter," Pope said. "Denzel Aberdeen has not been in a position where he's been asked to lead before, but that whole weight has been thrust upon him, and he's not been happy with the way he's played, necessarily, but he's become more and more vocal. I've had some of my best days with him in the last 10 days in terms of his willingness to stand up and hold guys accountable and and open up his mouth. that's a hard thing to do. That's actually hard, especially when things are going bad, especially when you're not playing very well, so I'm seeing progress there. Colin Chandler continues to emerge in his growth pattern as a solid, everyday, dependable leader on this team."

Pope knows it's also on him to provide better leadership, but it's also encouraging to see others step up recently. Now, all of that work just has to translate into the games, and right now, that's easier said that done for the Wildcats. They'll certainly love to have that feel-good win on Tuesday night against NC Central that they need before Indiana comes to town.