After Calipari's exit, Kentucky wasted no time and hired BYU head coach Mark Pope, who also played college basketball at Kentucky. Fast forward to February, and Pope is crushing it in his first season in Lexington. On Tuesday night, No. 15 Kentucky moved to 17-7 on the year and 6-5 in SC play with a 75-64 win over No. 5 Tennessee.

With Lamont Butler and Jaxson Robinson watching how it ended from the sidelines, Mark Pope saw the best of Kentucky basketball right before his eyes.

Even with injuries affecting the Kentucky basketball roster, Mark Pope would prefer to play with a 10-man rotation. The returns have been uneven.

Mark Pope is enjoying his first season as Kentucky men's basketball head coach. He has won 16 of 23 games and has the Wildcats as the No. 15 team in the country heading into Tuesday's showdown against the Tennessee Volunteers.

In the big picture of Kentucky basketball, the 23 games Mark Pope has served as head coach is not an ample sample size. Nevertheless, as No. 15 UK (16-7, 5-5 SEC) prepares to face No. 5 Tennessee (20-4, 7-4 SEC) at Rupp Arena on Tuesday night, some trends have emerged that seem likely to shape the future of Pope’s tenure as Wildcats coach.

Kentucky coach Mark Pope tells ESPN that both Jaxson Robinson and Lamont Butler are "genuine game-time decisions" against South Carolina (noon). Pope said Robinson had a "brutal collision" in practice Friday and hurt his wrist.

The Kentucky Wildcats' back-to-back ugly losses have the vocal portion of the fanbase quickly turning on first-year head coach Mark Pope.