The Wildcats’ second-year head coach spoke to the media after Kentucky’s 99-53 win over
Eastern Illinois on Friday and wasn’t able to elaborate on his postgame quote that went viral on Thursday.
“You guys know I’m a big Taylor Swift fan, and I just like to leave out these little things that keep everybody wondering and guessing,” Pope said. “There’s really not much to it. At some point, I’ll tell you the story, but I’d like you guys to prognosticate on that for a couple of days.”
Pope further delved into the mystery during his postgame radio interview with Tom Leach.
“We’re very meticulous about managing our emotions,” he said. “It’s really important to us as a program that we’re incredibly emotional. We care so much; this matters so much. We actually don’t want to be run by our emotions. We want to control and focus our emotions.”
Pope previously explained during his Thursday press conference that his team had an “out of character experience” before their rivalry game against the Cardinals.
“It was a distracted effort and distracted focus,” Pope told the media after the loss.
For now, the mystery of this whole situation remains just that — a mystery.
The Wildcats will return to action on Tuesday, November 18th, against the 17th-ranked Michigan State Spartans. The game will be played at Madison Square Garden, with tip-off at 6:30 PM ET on ESPN.
