From the opening whistle to the final buzzer, Michigan State out-toughed and out-played Kentucky.
Tom Izzo spoke about team continuity being the reason the Spartans were able to win and have so much success through the first four games while Mark Pope took the loss horribly. He had a 45-minute meltdown with his team following the loss that he called “scary” and “violent” — which is confusing — and then he talked to the media a little more calmly on Thursday.
Pope touched on the Michigan State loss and he made a shocking admission.
He told reporters (in somewhat of a bizarre presser) that he spent way too much time adding to his offense and not enough time preparing for Michigan State.
Mark Pope says Kentucky spent more time adding to the offense instead of preparing for Michigan State, calling it a "miss."
— Tristan Pharis (@TristanUda) November 20, 2025
"We spent way less time in preparation of Michigan State, reviewing and perfecting our secondary offensive options. We spent a lot of time growing our…
This is something you do if you’re facing Northern Kentucky, not something you do when you face Izzo and Michigan State. There’s just no excuse for not preparing for a top-20 opponent enough, and that sort of hints at Pope being in a little over his head at Kentucky.
You’d never hear John Calipari say that he didn’t prepare enough to face Izzo. It’s usually the exact opposite.
Pope assumed that Michigan State was just going to keep missing shots all season and didn’t opt to prepare for the possibility that the Spartans would catch fire. In college basketball, any team can get hot on any given night, so being prepared for that scenario is crucial. Apparently not for Pope.
Taking Michigan State lightly is just another blunder for Pope that he’s going to have to answer for, and he clearly doesn’t mind admitting it.