Mark Pope leaving the podium after Auburn loss: 'I did not say a word about how they cheated us'
In Kentucky’s eventual 75-74 loss to Auburn on Saturday, Collin Chandler was called for an offensive foul for pushing off with the Wildcats up one point and 14 seconds left. Auburn ended up winning the game on a last-second tip in after the call.
While one call or play doesn’t flip a game entirely, Kentucky coach Mark Pope seemed to be very frustrated in the postgame press conference with the offensive foul on Chandler late.
“We’re not allowed to talk about the referees, but you guys saw it,” Pope said. “I think sometimes it’s just super personal. I’m not allowed to comment on the referees. I won’t comment on the referees. It’s unfortunate. It’s just unfortunate. So it didn’t cost us the game. We’re in control of the game. So we’ll find ways to go win.”
Later in the presser, Pope was asked what his message to the team was after a call like that.
“We refuse to give control to people outside of our program,” Pope said. “Refuse. Regardless of how personal it might get or how bad it might get, we refuse to give control to fans, to give control to anybody else associated with this game regardless of how blatantly people are trying to make this not happen. We refuse to give them that power.”
Pope later continued: “We’re not giving away our power. We don’t make excuses. We don’t do that. Regardless of what is happening, regardless of how disgraceful things are, we don’t give away our power. Regardless how embarrassing, personal, awful, unacceptable things are, we refuse to give away our power.”
It was clear Pope was frustrated on the podium, but he also voiced some frustrations when he left.
Kentucky senior guard Otega Oweh also posted to his Instagram story “These refs gon do it everytime.”
With the loss, the Wildcats (17-10, 8-6) move into a tie for sixth place in the SEC standings. Kentucky plays at South Carolina on Tuesday before closing the season with Vanderbilt, Texas A&M and Florida.
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