UK men’s basketball enters uncharted territory for several players and Mark Pope

Kentucky head coach Mark Pope calls to his players during the first half in the first round of the NCAA college basketball tournament against Troy, Friday, March 21, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)

MILWAUKEE, Wis. (ABC36 NEWS NOW)- Head Coach Mark Pope and several of his players have never reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament until Friday night.

With Kentucky’s thrashing of Troy, Pope earned his first ever March Madness win and tips the scale of his postseason national tournament record to 7-6 overall.

On Sunday at 5:15 p.m. ET/4:15 p.m. CT, when UK faces Illinois, Pope and Company have a chance to do it again. The Illini bested Xavier in the first round to face with the Cats setting up a matchup that hasn’t happened in over 40 years.

Same Ole Same Ole

“Our life gets really simple right now,” said Pope, who says that his staff went through a scouting report on Head Coach Brad Underwood’s side right after the Troy win.

Life is simple for Pope’s players too. Koby Brea, who has advanced past the first round of the tournament before at Dayton, says that everything has stayed the same for his team.

“We beat Nevada in the first round last year. It was a crazy game that we came back and won,” said Brea. “It’s a pretty quick turnaround so you can’t stay stuck on the first win too much. It’s kind of the same (as last year) but with a new group of guys and coaching staff. I feel like we have a good thing coming into this next game.”

On the other hand, Amari Williams won his first ever NCAA Tournament game versus Troy.

“It felt great seeing that it was Coach Pope’s first win meant a lot to him. To do that at a school like Kentucky is special,” said the center.

Constants from Cougars to Cats

There are a few constants from Pope’s last March Madness trip in 2024 with BYU to this year’s tournament. The UK head man had now-Wildcat coaches Cody Fueger and Nick Robinson on staff plus point guard Jaxson Robinson.

After the Cougars lost to Duquesne in the first round, Robinson and Pope took the podium together and both expressed their desire to return to the NCAA Tournament again the next season with BYU.

Fast forward to present day and the pair are together, but with some major changes. One of which is being in Lexington. The other is Robinson’s season ending wrist injury.

“It hurts me even to utter his name because I think about what could be happening right now,” said Pope. “But what’s really exciting is probably something bigger. Now he’s taking on a leadership role on this team where he’s not just talking to our players, but he’s coming up and talking to me.”

As he becomes another right hand man for Pope, Robinson is grateful to share his coach’s first-ever March Madness win with him.

“It was really huge,” said Robinson. “Sharing the same kind of struggles can be tough, but he’s gotten to know me as a person and vice versa. We have a couple of years under our belts. It’s always cool to see the success that he’s having.”