ATLANTA — When Mark Pope arrived at Kentucky in April, there was a clean slate from a roster perspective. One freshman kept his commitment from the John Calipari era, but that was it. Pope was able to choose each player on his roster for Year 1 — and he made it clear from the outset what he wanted: college experience.
“When you’re recruiting high school kids, you’re spending a lot of time projecting,” Pope told ESPN over the summer. “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 eight players who were at least 21.
In his first big game as Kentucky’s head coach, Tuesday night against Duke in the Champions Classic, Pope started five 21- or 22-year-olds. The Blue Devils, by comparison, didn’t start a player over 20.
And it was that experience that helped the Wildcats come away with an early-season statement victory, a come-from-behind 77-72 win. It was Kentucky’s first Champions Classic win since 2020.
“I like our group,” Pope said. “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 think that wins. I really think it wins in the end.”
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 think it’s just kind of the flow of the game,” Carr said. “That happens with the way that we play. It’s a lot of reading and reacting and we try to take advantage of how the defense is guarding us. They were switching sometimes, and just wanted to try and continue to be aggressive. I was able to get in the lane, play off two feet and able to convert on those plays.”
Meanwhile, Oweh made the winning plays in the final minute. With 12 seconds left, he stole the ball from Cooper Flagg and made the go-ahead free throws. And after 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 was really proud of the way the guys came out in the second half,” Pope said. “The last 10 minutes of the first half was really frustrating. We gave up 46 points. That’s not characteristic of us. We had seven turnovers. That’s not characteristic of us. … But what I was really proud of was guys went and sat in the locker room and all it was was constructive. The guys do most of the fixing before 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 most of the second half, and key reserve 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 hands,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. “I think they knew that was happening too and I’m OK with that. We’re going to be in these moments a lot together. … He’s got to touch it and [I] trust that good things are going to happen.
“He willed us in that game. He willed us. Especially down the stretch.”
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