Kentucky coach Mark Pope was highly disappointed with his team’s performance against heated rival Louisville earlier this week.
Now Pope is eager to see how his team responds when the No. 9 Wildcats face Eastern Illinois on Friday night at Lexington, Ky.
Kentucky (2-1) fell 96-88 to the No. 12 Cardinals on Tuesday when host Louisville held the advantage for nearly 38 minutes and led by as many as 20 points.
Pope didn’t mince words about his team’s showing.
“I was proud of the guys for competing, but that’s not the standard we have at Kentucky,” Pope said.
Louisville committed just six turnovers and forced the Wildcats into 14. The Cardinals had a 19-10 edge in points off turnovers.
“We played extremely poorly, and credit Louisville for that,” Pope said. “We played extremely poorly, but we do have a competitive group, and we had some interesting new vibe lineups for us in the second half, trying to respond to some things.”
Denzel Aberdeen established career highs of 26 points and seven rebounds for the Wildcats. Aberdeen transferred in after being a backup for three seasons at Florida. He leads the Wildcats in scoring (16.0 per game) and assists (3.7).
“Denzel has been in everything; he’s been through it all,” Pope said of a player who averaged 7.7 points on Florida’s national championship team last season. “I thought he was really good. He’s a terrific competitor. I need him to be a more vocal leader, that’s his next step, and we definitely need him to do it, but I thought he gave great effort.”
Collin Chandler had 12 points on four 3-pointers to improve to a team-best 12 of 21 from behind the arc. Kentucky standout Otega Oweh also scored 12 points, but it was a tough outing for Oweh, who was hounded into 4-of-13 shooting from the field and committed five turnovers.
“I thought they were physical with him. I thought they brought a crowd,” Pope said of the Cardinals. “They did everything we didn’t do. They were really good at bringing a crowd and making them play through multiple defenders.”
Chandler (13.7), Oweh (13.3) and Malachi Moreno (10.3) also average in double digits in scoring for the Wildcats. Moreno averages a team-best 8.0 rebounds per game.
Eastern Illinois (1-2) is coming off a 78-58 road loss to Notre Dame on Tuesday. Kooper Jacobi made four 3-pointers and led the Panthers with 20 points.
Eastern Illinois had troubles on the boards, as Notre Dame held a 40-24 edge.
The Panthers began the season by losing at Valparaiso and followed with a home win over Nicholls. Panthers coach Marty Simmons had high hopes before the commencement of the campaign.
“I think the group of guys we have this year bring a lot of versatility and toughness,” Simmons said at Ohio Valley Conference media day. They want to be coached, they want to be good.”
Zion Fruster leads Eastern Illinois with a 16.0 scoring average. Jacobi is averaging 11.7 points and Preston Turner 10.7.
Notre Dame and Kentucky aren’t the lone top-notch programs on the Eastern Illinois non-conference schedule. The Panthers will visit No. 2 Purdue on Nov. 28 and No. 16 Iowa State on Dec. 14.
