Rick Pitino says game vs. Mark Pope, Kentucky will stir emotions: ‘It’s no different than coaching against your son’

On December 20, Mark Pope and Rick Pitino will coach against each other for only the second time in their careers when Kentucky plays St. John’s in the CBS Sports Classic. We know Pope will have some butterflies in his stomach going up against his former coach, but it will also be Pitino’s first game against Kentucky since 2016, his final season at Louisville. In a new interview, Pitino admitted there will be some emotions on his side of the ball as well, even in his fifth decade of coaching.

On a podcast with Jon Rothstein, Pitino compared facing Pope to coaching against his son, Richard, which he has done four times in his career. Pitino won the first meeting vs. Pope when Louisville beat Utah Valley in 2015. As for Kentucky, he still considers the program the crème de la crème, the “Roman Empire” of college basketball.

“Oh, I think it’s no different than coaching against your son. Obviously, it stirs different emotions. I think anytime you play Kentucky, what I’ve always called the Roman Empire of college basketball, you know you’re going to go against great talent. Certainly, Mark Pope is one of the bright young coaches in the game, and really has a great offensive mind, but it’ll be great to play against the University of Kentucky. I’m really looking forward to the game.”

One year ago, Pope helped welcome Pitino back into the Big Blue Nation, bringing his old coach out with the rest of the 1995-96 team at Big Blue Madness. Pitino received a standing ovation from fans, which almost brought him to tears; that reunion is still on Pitino’s mind.

“I went back there a year ago for Big Blue Madness, and that was fun to experience again,” Pitino said. “It’ll be a great game. I think two teams that will be highly ranked. Two teams that have a lot of talent, different types of talent now, we’re different than them, but it’ll be exciting to see who comes out on top.”

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St. John’s is a preseason top-five squad, boasting one of the best transfer portal classes in the country with Ian Jackson (North Carolina), Bryce Hopkins (Providence, Kentucky), Joson Sanon (Arizona State), and Oziyah Sellers (Stanford). Add in junior forward Zuby Ejiofor, who averaged 14.7 points per game last year for the Red Storm, and the Dec. 20 matchup is one of the biggest tests of a stacked non-conference schedule. Pitino said his St. John’s squad is second only to the 1996 Kentucky team in terms of talent and chemistry, which is fitting considering the game takes place on the 30th anniversary of that national championship season.

“If you take the talent on this year’s team and you match it with last year’s team, it’s pretty similar, except we’re a little better offensively. If we can be as good defensively as last year’s team when we were 1 or 1A with Houston, then we’ve got something special. But that’s a big if. So, obviously, we’re not as good as the ’96 team, but in ’97 or 2013, there are a lot of players on this basketball team because of their experience. They can match up with any team I’ve coached, with the exception of the ’96 team.”

Pitino likes his team’s potential, especially on offense, but said his squad has a long way to go on the defensive end. The game vs. Kentucky on Dec. 20 steals the spotlight, but St. John’s has some big games before then. The Red Storm hosts Alabama on Nov. 8 at Madison Square Garden and will play Baylor in the Players Era event in Las Vegas during Thanksgiving week. They’ll also host Ole Miss on Dec. 6. Pitino is especially eager to see how they fare against SEC competition. The last time they played an SEC squad was the loss to Arkansas in the NCAA Tournament.

“We have good length. We don’t have great size, but we have good length, good athleticism, and I want to see how we stack up against Alabama because of two similar styles of play. Two teams that want to get up and down and play like a ping-pong game.”

We’ll hear a ton of Pitino vs. Pope talk in the months to come, but one thing is certain: Pitino won’t hold back in the December matchup in Atlanta.

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