Kentucky basketball legend Jamal Mashburn offered one of the strongest public critiques yet of Mark Pope’s struggling squad, a team now 3–2 after being blown out in both of its marquee early-season matchups.
Kentucky was dominated by Louisville in a 96–88 loss that wasn’t as close as the final score, trailing by 20 in the second half. Days later, the Wildcats were overwhelmed again, falling to Michigan State in another lopsided defeat.
With both key games slipping away early, national concern is growing, and Mashburn didn’t sugarcoat any of it.
The former All-American and 12-year NBA veteran, now part of TNT Sports College Basketball, joined the Pearl’s Panic Meter segment on Thursday. He rated Kentucky at a 3 out of 5 on the panic scale.
“I would say probably a three at this particular point… They are not shooting the ball well from three, they are not guarding the three, they are not rebounding, they look like kittens more than Wildcats, in my opinion.”
Mashburn said. “And at the end of the day, when you spend $22 million dollars in NIL, there has to be some accountability.”
Mashburn also questioned Kentucky’s lack of a defining star.
“You’ve gotta find a stud or at least two that you can play off of,” he said, with Jalen Rose agreeing.
When asked whether he sees an alpha on this roster, Mashburn didn’t hesitate:
“No, I am not seeing it yet. Usually, the alpha takes control of the locker room, and right now I’m hearing Mark Pope is doing a lot of that.”
Fellow UK legend Dan Issel is also not a fan of this team and is struggling to see how things will get better for Pope and Co.
“I was talking to Louie (Dampier) yesterday, and I told him, it looked like to me, that Mark went down to the New York Athletic Club a half-hour before tip-off, got 10 guys who had never played together before, and put Kentucky uniforms on them. There was not one aspect, not one, in that game that would lead me to believe they’re going to be a decent team this year,” Issel told ESPN 680.
Whew.
With Kentucky sitting at 3–2 and both big tests resulting in the game not being really close, Mashburn’s and Issel’s pointed critique reflects the growing national concern around the program’s early trajectory.
Can this Kentucky team turn things around and make their alumni proud?
