Mark Pope’s Kentucky Basketball Debut: Exhibition Game Against Kentucky Wesleyan and Coach’s Public Gaffe

Mark Pope, the new head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats men’s basketball team, is set to make his coaching debut in an exhibition game against Kentucky Wesleyan on October 23 at Rupp Arena. This marks the beginning of a new era for Kentucky basketball following John Calipari’s transition to Arkansas. Pope, who has an overall coaching record of 187-108 from his stints at Utah Valley and BYU, will be leading a team with 12 new scholarship players..

The exhibition game against Kentucky Wesleyan, a Division II school that had a 21-win season last year and participated in the Division II NCAA Tournament, promises to be a competitive matchup. Kentucky Wesleyan has an experienced team with four returning starters and some notable transfers, although one of their key transfers, Alex Tsynkevich from Alcorn State, will be out for this game.

Coach Pope plans to use at least 12 players to test various lineups and see how the team performs together. Key players to watch include Lamont Butler, Jaxson Robinson, Andrew Carr, and Amari Williams, with questions surrounding who will start at the two-guard position between Koby Brea and Otega Oweh.

In other news, Mark Pope recently made headlines for a different reason. The night before his first exhibition game, Pope’s car ran out of gas on a busy road in Lexington. When questioned about the incident, Pope revealed that it was his wife, Lee Anne, who had actually run out of gas, drawing criticism for publicly shifting the blame to her.

Fans can watch the exhibition game on SEC+, which is available through the ESPN app on smart TVs or streaming devices. The game is scheduled to start at 7 PM EST on October 23.