Kentucky had their first big test of the season against Duke on Tuesday night, and the Blue Devils had them on the ropes for much of the game. The Wildcats trailed by nine points at halftime, but they made some adjustments at intermission and the second half helped them to the big win over No. 6 Duke.

It wasn’t just the adjustments in general on the field. It was a big mental change, and Mark Pope says they came out with incredible “grit” and determination in the second half. They showed it by bouncing back and showing fight, taking big actions to achieve victory.

“I was very proud of how the boys came forward in the second half. We always try to keep an eye on our energy in our team. The boys are really aware of what they are putting their minds to. The last ten minutes of the game The first half was really frustrating. We conceded 46 points. That’s not typical of us. It’s not who we are as a team. The boys sat in the locker room and it was nothing but constructive. The boys did the biggest thing part of the repair before I even got into the locker room. You could see that in the way they came out to start the second half was just sheer grit and determination.”

– Pope about the turnaround in the second half.

Pope knows it can be mentally tough to stay in it when the going gets tough, but the competitiveness of this Kentucky team helps carry them. The team’s incredible resilience is a big part of what kept them going and fighting back. The entire team emphasizes this.

“They all have fail-safes. There are fail-safes everywhere. Usually the fail-safes just come from their competitive spirit. We have a lot of those. Andrew (Carr) mentioned this, but our guys were very focused on : When the going gets tough, it’s the psychology of us as human beings that we start to communicate less, we start to get lost in our own heads, and you start to literally and figuratively turn away from the group. Our guys are incredibly intentional about fighting that and they say, no, we’re going back to each other. That’s not just normal. They’re fighting to make that happen the blessings of having nice guys on the team.”

– Pope on the psychology of the team.

Kentucky’s mental state translated into their success on the field Tuesday night, and now Mark Pope has his first signature win as Kentucky’s head coach. The Wildcats made key plays at key moments, staying poised when their backs were against the wall.