ATLANTA — When Mark Pope arrived at Kentucky in April, there used to be a blank slate from a roster standpoint. One freshman saved his loyalty from the John Calipari time, however that used to be it. Pope used to be in a position to make a choice each and every participant on his roster for Time 1 — and he made it sunny from the outset what he sought after: university revel in.
“When you’re recruiting high school kids, you’re spending a lot of time projecting,” Pope informed ESPN over the summer time. “It’s much easier to recruit guys that have played in college. … We’re going to go handpick the guys that we actually see making the plays that we make.”
Pope ended up signing 8 gamers who have been a minimum of 21.
In his first obese sport as Kentucky’s head lecturer, Tuesday night time in opposition to Duke within the Champions Vintage, Pope began 5 21- or 22-year-olds. The Blue Devils, by means of comparability, didn’t get started a participant over 20.
And it used to be that have that helped the Wildcats move on with an early-season remark victory, a come-from-behind 77-72 win. It used to be Kentucky’s first Champions Vintage win since 2020.
“I like our group,” Pope mentioned. “If we had lost this game, I would still like our group. … This group is special. And they’ve been that way before we played a game. In the summer, the guys were so intentional. These guys — nobody knew each other. And they’ve been very intentional about getting to know each other. Three or four weeks into the summer, I had guys doing incredibly generous, gracious acts of kindness for their teammates.
“I feel that wins. I truly suppose it wins in spite of everything.”
Duke led by 10 points in the first half and as many as nine points in the second half, but Kentucky fought back behind a pair of veteran power-conference transfers, Andrew Carr from Wake Forest and Otega Oweh from Oklahoma. Carr hit two 3-pointers early, but it was two three-point plays down the stretch that swung the momentum. One tied the score with 3:57 left, the second gave the Wildcats a two-point lead with 1:49 to go. He finished with 17 points.
“I feel it’s simply more or less the wave of the sport,” Carr said. “That occurs with the best way that we play games. It’s a batch of studying and reacting and we struggle to benefit from how the protection is guarding us. They have been switching occasionally, and simply sought after to struggle and proceed to be competitive. I used to be in a position to get within the lane, play games off two ft and in a position to transform on the ones performs.”
In the meantime, Oweh made the successful performs within the ultimate slight. With 12 seconds left, he stole the ball from Cooper Flagg and made the go-ahead independent throws. And next Lamont Butler missed a free throw with 5 seconds left that would have clinched the game, Oweh grabbed the offensive rebound and iced the win with two free throws. He had 15 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists.
Another feature of Pope’s roster construction was its emphasis on 3-point shooting. A priority in his portal search was finding players who could make outside shots. Last season was the first time Kentucky finished in the top 100 nationally in 3-point percentage since 2016 and only the fourth time since Calipari took over in 2009. In the Wildcats’ previous four Champions Classic games — all losses — they shot a combined 29-for-102 from 3-point range, 28.4%.
On Tuesday, they shot 10-for-25 from beyond the arc, 40%. It’s perfectly in line with the 24-for-60 Kentucky shot in its wins over Wright State and Bucknell to start the season.
What stood out about the Wildcats’ strong finish against Duke, however, was the way they attacked the basket in the second half. After making the first five 3s of the game, they missed their next eight attempts and struggled to generate half-court offense in the first half. So late in the game, Kentucky began going more aggressively at the rim, using big men Amari Williams and Brandon Garrison to initiate offense and get Duke in difficult rotations. The Blue Devils had miscommunications on multiple possessions defensively late in the game, leading to open Kentucky opportunities.
“I used to be truly pleased with the best way the fellows got here out in the second one part,” Pope said. “The latter 10 mins of the primary part used to be truly irritating. We gave up 46 issues. That’s no longer feature folks. We had seven surrenders. That’s no longer feature folks. … However what I used to be truly pleased with used to be guys went and sat within the depot room and all it used to be used to be positive. The blokes do lots of the solving earlier than I even get in there.”
Defensively, Kentucky was able to take Duke out of its rhythm, and the Blue Devils began to struggle with turnovers and perimeter shooting — along with the health of two key players. Freshman big man Khaman Maluach dealt with cramping issues for lots of the 2d part, and key book Sion James left the game because of a shoulder injury after taking a hard hit on a screen.
After turning the ball over only once in the first half and getting consistent production from guards Tyrese Proctor and Kon Knueppel — even extending the lead after Flagg went to the bench with two fouls — Duke’s supporting cast went cold and the Blue Devils’ offense fell almost entirely on Flagg.
The projected No. 1 NBA draft pick responded with a terrific showing, finishing with 26 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks. He hit a midrange jumper to stop a Kentucky run with 7:33 to go, then hit two free throws with 4:18 left to put Duke up three. On back-to-back possessions with two minutes left, Flagg hit a bucket-and-foul and a layup to tie the score.
But on the final two Duke possessions, Flagg turned the ball over with a chance to tie the score or take the lead.
“[We wanted] the ball in his arms,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. “I feel they knew that used to be taking place too and I’m OK with that. We’re taking to be in those moments a batch in combination. … He’s were given to the touch it and [I] consider that just right issues are taking to occur.
“He willed us in that game. He willed us. Especially down the stretch.”
