What’s the biggest challenge for this UK basketball team with the season starting soon?

With fewer than three weeks to go until the Kentucky basketball season opener, what do these Wildcats still need to work on the most?

One of UK’s biggest strengths — all that college experience via the transfer portal — remains one of the biggest challenges for Mark Pope and the new coaching staff.

“We’re blessed to have a really veteran group that’s got a ton of experience — that’s got no experience with each other,” Pope said. “Since the very, very first day that we were together, it’s been a major piece of focus for our guys to understand us and understand each other and try and fit together and communicate with each other.

“So that’s been the biggest part for us.”

The regular-season opener of the Pope era will be Nov. 4 against Wright State in Rupp Arena, with the first marquee matchup of his tenure coming eight days later in Atlanta, site of a meeting with No. 7-ranked Duke in the Champions Classic.

Pope likes his team at this stage in the preseason, and he likes the way they’ve worked together since arriving on campus over the summer. But he also knows the natural challenges of getting 12 new scholarship players — none of whom have ever been college teammates — to click as one when the actual basketball begins.

“We have guys that bring in exactly the skill sets that we’re looking for in this first year, and it’s just a matter of us growing together,” Pope said, noting that he has been “really proud” of the way his players have jelled so far. “The next thing for us is actually to get on a court and play against somebody else and start coming together that way, too. So I think we’re well on our way in the process, and we’re excited for the next steps.”

The first look at outside competition comes Oct. 23 against Kentucky Wesleyan, with another exhibition game against Minnesota State six days after that, and then the Nov. 4 opener.

UK’s Pro Day event last week showed that these Wildcats aren’t shy about talking on the court, a good sign as they face the challenge of turning that communication into winning results in actual games.

Jaxson Robinson , who spent the past two seasons with Pope at BYU — making him the only Wildcat to ever play for the new UK head coach — didn’t hesitate when asked where, exactly, this team could get better between now and the start of the regular season.

“I mean, right now, we’re working on our transition defense,” Robinson said. “We think that’s a big area that can help us early on in the season. Coach ( Alvin Brooks III ) always talks about, early in the season, a lot of teams don’t have sets. They’re still trying to figure things out, and easy buckets come through transition. So just being able to stop that and make it a halfcourt game is probably the biggest thing that we’re focused on defensively.”

To get better there, Robinson spoke to Pope’s original point.

“I would say it’s mostly just effort and communication,” he said. “Just being able to fly around and make quick decisions, be able to communicate with your teammates on the fly and just pick up your man in transition.”

A few feet away, Lamont Butler — assumed to be the starting point guard on Pope’s first Kentucky team and arguably the best perimeter defender in the country — made clear that the talking points from the coaching staff are landing with the players.

“I would just say continuing to make strides with communication — probably transition defense,” Butler said when asked about the most immediate challenge for his team. “Just continuing to communicate, declaring the ball, building walls and things like that. Talking on screens. I think that just comes along as the season goes — just being able to see our mistakes and things like that. But I think we’ve been growing at a fast rate. So we’re just gonna continue to do that.”

Pope reiterated his intention to play at a high tempo this season, and Robinson said conditioning — in anticipation of playing that style — is the area in which his team has made the biggest strides since the beginning of the summer.

Playing fast will go both ways, though. UK practice observers have confirmed that Pope is likely to press — as his college coach, Rick Pitino, was fond of doing — and getting the communication down on that end of the ball will be crucial.

All involved with this Kentucky team have heaped praise on the new players’ ability to bond off the court and eagerness to get on the same page on the practice floor.

That’s a start as they strive to meet this challenge, but it’s not something that these Cats will be able to come close to perfecting until the games begin.

“Having that chemistry helps a lot on the court,” Butler said. “... You know your teammate has your back and stuff like that. But, you know, the communication part — sometimes, a lot of teams, you communicate well off the court, and then on the court, no one’s talking. I think that’s just how a lot of basketball teams work. But we’ve been having a heavy emphasis on declaring the ball, talking loud, loading to the ball.

“So I think it’s just coming along for us. I mean, we have a lot of guys that aren’t afraid to talk, so we’re out there just having fun and getting to know each other. So I think it’s gonna be big for us.”

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