Mark Pope says Kentucky wasn't their 'normal selves' in final minutes against Texas

The Wildcats gave up a 14-1 run to Texas in the final minutes.

Feb 15, 2025; Austin, Texas, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope argues with an official during the second half against the Texas Longhorns at Moody Center. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-Imagn Images | Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

Kentucky faced a very hungry Texas team on Saturday night in Austin, a team that was really looking for a resume-boosting win, and one over the Wildcats would certainly do that. Fast-forward to after the game, and the Longhorns got their wish, a big win that will certainly help their case for an NCAA Tournament bid. As for what happened in the game, Kentucky had it in their hands heading into the final minutes, but they let a 5-point lead slip away fast.

The Wildcats were leading by five with 3:47 left in the game, and then, a big run by Texas helped them take the lead as the final seconds neared to eventually get the 82-78 win after leading by as much as eight in the final minutes. Kentucky certainly looked out of sorts during the collapse with poor rebounding, sloppy play, and bad shots. Mark Pope agrees with that sentiment, saying "we just weren't our normal selves" in the final minutes.

""One of the things that has been really special about our team is we've done a great job of being in the moment, being on to the next play. It's been a really good character of our team and we just weren't our normal selves in that aspect of the game in the last three minutes and 45 seconds. ...Our execution stunk in the last four minutes on both sides of the ball. ...It was partly our execution, but our presentness was poor. ...We were good enough to win for 36 minutes tonight, and we'll get good enough to win in the last four. ...We're at that point in the season where these late-game situations are gonna become increasingly heated. We have incredibly painful moments from this game where we weren't present, and we will learn from that, and we're gonna continue to get better. If we do this right, these moments are the moments that we're gonna get to replay again, and we're gonna do them right."

Now, Kentucky will look to get back on track Wednesday against a Vanderbilt team that got the best of them in their first matchup against each other in Nashville, as this time will be inside Rupp Arena. The Wildcats will look to avoid another late-game collapse, which also happened late in the game against Vanderbilt the first time around.