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By Madison Williams
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Mark Pope is in his third season with the Kentucky Wildcats, but there's a chance, even if it's slim, for that to come to an end this season if things don't turn around for the team. Kentucky fans hold their team and coaches to a high standard, and Pope isn't reaching that.
Yes, it is only four games into the 2026-27 college basketball season, so there may be some overreacting happening here. But, Friday night's game between Kentucky and Northern Arizona University showed that the Wildcats may not be as strong of a team as fans thought they'd be this season.
Kentucky came into Friday night's game as extremely heavy favorites as NAU was 0-3 and ranked No. 299 overall compared to the 24th-ranked Wildcats. Defensively, NAU ranked 357th in NCAA Division I college basketball, per insider Jack Pilgrim.
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Yet, Kentucky made NAU look like a higher-ranked team during the contest. The Wildcats only led 45-37 at the half after the Lumberjacks kept it close. Then, NAU outscored Kentucky in the second half 40-33. The Lumberjacks took the lead less than eight minutes into the second half, and it took the Wildcats until 5:17 left in the game to regain the lead.
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It was then a back-and-forth battle until the Lumberjacks went up by four points with 22 seconds left. Kentucky's Alex Wilkins saved the day for his team as he made a three-pointer with two seconds left to win 78-77.
This game should not have been close, especially this close. Fans on social media were immediately calling for Pope to be fired from the head coaching position. And, it's hard not to question his leadership after he gave this response following the win.
“Well, I hope everybody in Rupp [Arena] had fun. It was a pretty exciting game," Pope said. "We saw a Northern Arizona team that was playing great basketball and a Kentucky team that's trying to find themselves, and it came down to the last second. It’s pretty entertaining if not well-executed. It’s really entertaining. I think this will be a fun team to follow. With one exception, they’re finding ways to win games. We'll continue down that path as we try to settle the [expletive] that we tried to execute."
He was trying to keep the vibes positive, but this was the time to acknowledge the obvious mistakes the Wildcats made across the board to almost lose a game they shouldn't have.
Pope has led the Wildcats to a 49-27 record since taking over ahead of the 2024-25 season. Kentucky plays Grambling State on Monday, so we'll see if Pope is still leading the team come then.
Here's some of the reaction from social media on Friday night. Kentucky fans have clearly given up on Pope.
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