Mark Pope closed out a blockbuster transfer portal move, bringing former Iowa State sharpshooter Milan Momcilovic over to Lexington. However, his daughters weren’t quite happy with how several Kentucky stars have exited the team after a 22-14 finish, placing seventh in SEC rankings.
In a clip posted on Instagram by Layla Grace Pope, the head coach’s daughters poked fun at the players who transferred out from the 2025-26 squad, using the team photo from the Joe Craft Center.
Among those players was Colin Chandler, the 6-foot-5 guard Pope flipped from BYU after his move to Kentucky. Chandler played two seasons with the Wildcats before announcing his intentions to return to the Cougars for his junior year. Layla Pope covered up Chandler’s face with yellow paper and added a pig face over Chandler.
While pointing at one of the players in the photo, Mark Pope’s daughters debated if the player “loved [Kentucky] enough,” to which one of the sisters replied: “He didn’t love us enough.”
Denzel Aberdeen, Jalaand Lowe, and Jasper Johnson were among the other players who got called out. One of the sisters suggested putting Todd Golden’s face over Denzel Aberdeen to signal his return to Florida, and poked fun at Jasper Johnson, saying “KY Until I Get Paid More Money…” before getting cut off.
It wasn’t all trolling, though, as Otega Oweh, who graduated from Kentucky, got some love from Pope, who suggested “drawing a heart over his face.”
Mark Pope Saves Transfer Portal Window With Milan Momcilovic Signing
While Kentucky lost key contributors from last season, including top scorers Otega Oweh, Denzel Aberdeen, and Colin Chandler, Mark Pope has been very active in the transfer portal himself.
The Wildcats have added Zoom Diallo, Frank Kepnang, Alex Wilkins, Jerome Morton, Justin McBride, and Milan Momcilovic to next year’s roster so far.
While Tyran Stokes slipped out of Pope’s hands with Bill Self securing the number one prospect from the 2026 recruiting class, the team has signed Ousmane N’Diaye, Mason Williams, and Zyon Hawthorne as the new recruits.
As for Momcilovic, the former Iowa State star provides much-needed shooting to the Wildcats’ roster with his 48.37% outside shooting on 7.5 attempts per game. Momcilovic has instantly become the team’s best scoring option and will have the bulk of the scoring duties in Mark Pope’s offense.
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