The NCAA season is heating up, and the Kentucky Wildcats are right in the thick of it. The post Mark Pope Faces Alarm “Bells Ringing” as Kentucky’s Defensive Struggles Deepen in Devastating Loss to Georgia appeared first on EssentiallySports.

Mark Pope’s UK team fell behind by 13 points at halftime and eventually lost by that same margin, 82-69, to Georgia in the Wildcats’ first SEC road game of the season.

Similar to his BYU teams, Pope’s Wildcats share the ball well and score a lot of points. Kentucky ranks third nationally in scoring (89.0 points), is sixth in assists (18.7) and is making 35.5% of nearly 30 3-point attempts per contest.

Even though the referees didn't do him any favors, Kentucky's Mark Pope doesn't want to talk about them after the loss to Georgia.

Five things you need to know from No. 6 Kentucky’s 82-69 loss to Georgia in the Wildcats’ men’s SEC basketball road opener: 1. No “3s,” no “W’s for Kentucky. In suffering its third loss of the season Tuesday night, Kentucky (12-3, 1-1 SEC) made only 6 of 25 3-point tries.

Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats kicked off SEC play with a very important matchup against the #6 Florida Gators and got the big win 106-100. Florida came o

There was no second-half comeback for Kentucky basketball. Georgia was too tough to tame Tuesday, handing UK an 82-69 loss at Stegeman Coliseum.

Against most high-major opponents this season, UK basketball has trailed by double digits in the first half. How can Kentucky stop this trend?