Mark Pope says Kentucky got 'distracted' in brutal loss to Georgia at home

The Kentucky Wildcats put themselves in a hole halfway through Tuesday's loss to Georgia.

Feb 17, 2026; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope looks to his bench during the second half against the Georgia Bulldogs at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images | Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

Kentucky basketball fell in brutal fashion to the Georgia Bulldogs on Tuesday night in Rupp Arena. In a game where they simply just needed to take care of business, they did not do that. The Wildcats were in a good spot early, but the final minutes of the first half was when things started to take a wrong turn.

The Wildcats had a seven-point lead with 6:38 left in the first half, but a 10-2 run by Georgia quickly followed that, giving the Bulldogs the momentum in order to take their first lead of the game at the 3:25 mark, before going into the half with a seven-point lead. Then came the second half, where Georgia blew open their lead to 12 with 9:20 left. But, Kentucky did not quit, they attempted to claw back, but fell short after cutting it to a three-point deficit with 2:13 left.

What went wrong for Kentucky in a game that once again required them to fight back, but this time on their own home floor against a desperate Georgia team. Mark Pope says his team got 'distracted' on the offensive end, especially, but also had some defensive lapses as well. The Wildcats finished with 13 turnovers, which Georgia got 22 points off of. Also, the Bulldogs had 20 assists to just 7 turnovers. It was an ugly game. Here is Pope's full comments on things that went wrong:

"We just allowed ourselves to get distracted. We actually started the game well. We were functioning well and then we just let Georgia get into a flow in transition, which is what they do and we never really fully recovered in the second half. We had some half-court rescues and some transition defense miscues, some that were generated by poor offensive decisions at the rim. The number one shot-blocking team in our league and inexplicably we still were really stubborn at times the second ten minutes of the first half and at times in the second half about working hard to get the rim and then take on the power play and make a play for a teammate. It's incredibly frustrating. It's a space where we're going to continue to struggle."

Feb 17, 2026; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Kentucky Wildcats guard Otega Oweh (00) looks on during the second half against the Georgia Bulldogs at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images | Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

It was actually Georgia's press defense that made Kentucky so uncomfortable. The Wildcats were facing the best defense at forcing turnovers in the SEC and it really showed. Pope talked more about the offense getting distracted and what kind of impact the press had on his team.

"The press was distracting for us, for sure," Pope said. "We ended up playing on our heels and it was actually hard for us to kind of establish anything other than early in the half court, because to be honest with you, our lead guards did a poor job going back and demanding the ball, so we ended up in a poor space and we just did a poor job."

Kentucky struggled to execute on Tuesday, not just offensively but defensively as well, as you can tell from Georgia's assist-to-turnover ratio. The Wildcats will look to bounce back against Auburn in a very hostile environment.