Kentucky men’s basketball bid a fitting farewell to 2025 on Dec. 23, closing the calendar year with a 99-85 win over Bellarmine inside Rupp Arena.
As the Cats leave 2025 in the past, let’s revisit the positives of the year, as it capped Head Coach Mark Pope’s first season at the helm of his alma mater, where he rekindled faith into the fanbase both on and off the court.
2024-25 Season-
With a team full of former mid-major players, Pope finished the season with a 24-12 overall record and a 10-8 record in SEC play, not bad considering 14 of the 16 SEC Schools qualified for the NCAA Tournament.
Pope also led the Cats to eight wins against teams ranked in the top 15 of the AP Top 25 poll, becoming just the third ever head coach to achieve that accolade.
After closing 2024 with an 11-2 record, the Cats kickstarted 2025 by beating eventual national champions, No. 6 Florida, in a thrilling game at Rupp Arena, outscoring the Gators in a highly-offensive game 106-100.
During the tail end of the 2024-25 season, prior to the postseason, the Cats also beat the Tennessee Volunteers twice, once in Knoxville, Tenn. when the Vols were ranked No. 8 and once in Rupp Arena when the Vols were ranked No. 5.
On top of the win in Knoxville, Kentucky also won massive road games at No. 14 Mississippi State and at No. 15 Missouri, winning both by five-plus points.
Throughout their success against SEC Teams, the Cats earned the No. 6 seed in the SEC Tournament, where they ended up doing damage while getting back in the win column after several years of failure.
2024-25 Postseason-
Kentucky won its first SEC Tournament game since 2022, beating eventual seventh overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft Jeremiah Fears and No. 14 Oklahoma 85-84 inside of Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
Kentucky led by 10 points with only 1:20 to go, but the Sooners stormed back and took an 84-83 lead with six seconds remaining, however, after calling a timeout, Pope sketched up a play that the Cats executed perfectly. Otega Oweh got down the court and flushed a layup with 0.6 remaining in the game, propelling UK to the quarterfinals while knocking off his former team.
Prior to the 2025 NCAA Tournament, Pope held an 0-2 record in the big dance, losing to No. 11 UCLA in 2021 and No. 11 Duquesne in 2024 as the head coach of BYU.
However, in his first year at Kentucky, Pope guided the Cats to a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament, where he earned his first March Madness win and more, beating No. 14 Troy 76-57 in the first round and No. 6 Illinois 84-75 in the second round, dancing on to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2019.
Although the Cats bailed out in the Sweet 16 after falling to No. 2 Tennessee in the two’s third tilt of the year, it was a season that exceeded expectations, one that brought a sigh of relief to Big Blue Nation, showing them that the programs national relevancy would stay afloat.
On top of that, Koby Brea (Phoenix Suns) and Amari Williams (Boston Celtics) got drafted in the 2025 NBA Draft, while Lamont Butler (Atlanta Hawks), Jaxson Robinson (Cleveland Cavaliers) and Andrew Carr (Portland Trail Blazers) signed as undrafted free agents.
2025-26 Season-
With the rest of this season still unwritten, the Cats closed out the 2025 portion of the campaign on a high note, building a four-game win streak with wins over North Carolina Central, Indiana, No. 22 St. John’s and, of course, Bellarmine, all by double-digits.
Prior to the four-game streak, Kentucky was floundering, suffering brutal defeats to No. 12 Louisville, No. 17 Michigan State, No. 16 North Carolina and No. 11 Gonzaga, causing a wave of panic within the fanbase.
However, instead of putting their heads down and canning the season, the Cats turned the page and headed into 2026 on a positive note, largely due to changes in discipline and game plans, as key players returned from injury.
Arizona State transfer and projected lottery pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, Jayden Quaintance, made his Kentucky debut on Dec. 20 against St. John’s, playing in his first game since February after suffering a knee injury.
Quaintance’s debut was highly anticipated, as the 6-foot-9 forward plays a polished, physical game, coming off of an average of 9.4 points, 7.9 rebounds and 2.6 blocks through 24 games started as a Sun Devil.
When you look at the past year, Kentucky started the “Pope Era” off on the right foot, silencing critics and advancing past the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament with a crew full of “misfits.”
Now, heading into 2026, the Cats will look to continue improving and earn a gracious seed in the SEC and NCAA Tournaments, still setting out for its original goal: banner No. 9.