Full-circle moment: The time Mark Pope coached against NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at UK

Before becoming Kentucky’s head coach, Mark Pope once coached against future NBA superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Before Mark Pope became the head coach of Kentucky Wildcats men’s basketball in 2024, he was leading a rising Utah Valley program, and in 2017, he found himself coaching against the very school he once helped win a national title as a player, but the full-circle moment didn’t stop there.

That night, in a 73-63 loss to John Calipari’s Wildcats at Rupp Arena, Pope’s squad fought hard. At the center of Kentucky’s win? A 4-star freshman named Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who posted 13 points, 4 assists, 4 steals, and 3 rebounds in 36 minutes.

Fast forward to 2025, and Gilgeous-Alexander is now the NBA MVP, NBA Finals MVP, Western Conference MVP, league-leading scorer, and a First Team All-NBA selection —firmly among the best players on the planet. He’s also the first Kentucky player to win NBA MVP, as well as the only one to win NBA Finals MVP.

And now, the man who coached against him that night is leading the program that helped launch SGA into superstardom.

It’s the kind of moment that captures both the wildness and beauty of college basketball—one coach facing off against a future NBA great, only to eventually return to the very school that shaped them both.

It’s rare to witness this level of full-circle magic, but in Kentucky—where basketball history is always being written — Mark Pope and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will forever share a place in it.