Tuesday Headlines: Mark Pope compares 2 current Cats to Kentucky legends

Good morning, BBN!

The Kentucky Wildcats rallied past the Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday and looked good doing it as they unveiled the denim uniforms. A tribute to the 1996 National Championship team, it was a great night at Rupp Arena, which featured several beloved Wildcats.

Now, Mark Pope is comparing two current Cats to two UK legends.

On Monday night, Pope said that Otega Oweh reminds him of Antoine Walker, while Collin Chandler resembles that of Jeff Sheppard.

“There’s something similar between Otega Oweh and Antoine Walker,” Pope said during his radio show. “There’s just something similar in terms of their impact on the game and their reliability, especially as Antoine got a little bit older. It’s more of some type of feel of impact on the game than it is specific, but there’s some similarity there.”

As for Chandler, Pope went a little more in-depth on why the sophomore got his comparison to Sheppard.

“I’ve told this story recently, but we’re playing at Arkansas (in 1995). It was Shep’s freshman year, no, it was his sophomore year, and we were still trying to work out a point guard situation. We were bouncing around before Anthony Epps really took control of the team, and it was the last few seconds of the game. It was a huge game, a CBS game, and Coach Pitino called a play.

“There’s 10 seconds left, and Shep is working the point. Shep turns down the play, goes by his guy, shoots a pull-up jumper that I can’t remember if it got deflected or not, and misses it. Game over. And we walked in the locker room, and Coach P was just super composed, as you can imagine, not emotional, and he was tearing into everybody.

“And then he got to Shep, and he was like, ‘If you ever turn down a play call ever, you’ll walk all the way back to Peachtree, Georgia, and you will never wear this jersey again. And I love the fact that you had the courage to do it.’ Paraphrasing, but that was the message.”

“There’s something about this Collin Chandler that is like…‘Let me go,’” Pope added. “Let me go take the moment. Let me go do it.”

At the moment, Oweh and Chandler have been two of the key pieces to this Kentucky team winning eight of their last nine games. Otega has turned into the SEC Player of the Year candidate we all anticipated, while Collin has become the clutch shooter this team needed from the jump.

Will that equate to a deep run in March? Who knows, but at the moment it sure is fun to watch this team roll through SEC play. Now getting the comparisons from their head coach and former teammate to two UK greats just adds another wrinkle to the story.

Tweet of the Day

LETS GO!!!!!

Headlines

Hailey Nutter wins SEC Freshman of the week- UK Athletics

Let’s go!

Kentucky Baseball makes another preseason top-25- KSR

Should be a fun season at KPP.

Otega Oweh named SEC co-player of the week- UK Athletics

Another impressive week for Oweh.

Malachi Moreno played with extra physicality against Tennessee- KSR

It was impressive.

Collin Chandler shined versus Tennessee- Cats Pause

Chandler is starting to turn it on.

Judge rules Charles Bediako ineligible- ESPN

The saga is over.

Jayson Tatum cleared to practice with G-league squad- ESPN

Uh oh!

MLB Spring Training opens- CBS

Baseball is back!