Mark Pope saw firsthand how deadly Milan Momcilovic is as a shooter: 'Really, really impressive.'

Mark Pope likely would have gone after Milan Momcilovic in the transfer portal had Kentucky not matched up against Iowa State in the Round of 32, but having the scouting report on hand probably gave him even more reason to go after the nation’s top three-point shooter.

We don’t need to spend too long recapping how that game went for the Wildcats. Iowa State cruised for nearly the full 40 minutes, winning 82-63 while ending Kentucky’s season in the process. Momcilovic played a major role in making it happen despite a slow shooting start. He finished with 20 points and five rebounds on 6-12 shooting, including a 4-9 mark from deep.

Pope knew going in that slowing down Momcilovic would be a key to victory. That’s easy to say, but tough to pull off. As we know well by now, Momcilovic led the country in three-point shooting last season at 48.7 percent on 7.5 attempts per outing. He made 136 triples across 37 games played.

“He’s put up staggering numbers. I think it’s close to 250 threes (attempted) on the season,” Pope said on March 21 ahead of Kentucky’s matchup with Iowa State. “Shooting 50 percent. It’s really, really impressive. It’s gotta put him in rarified air. I don’t know where that stands with anybody else in the country. They earn him a lot of shots with their pace. They earn him shots with actions. He earns himself shots by being an elite-level screener and a relocator.”

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Kentucky needed a team effort on defense to slow Momcilovic. It didn’t happen. The Wildcats weren’t alone in giving up big numbers to the 6-foot-8 wing, though. Momcilovic dropped 28 points against Arizona in the Big 12 Tournament. He had 34 points in the regular season against Cincinnati. He hit the 20-point mark in 15 games with at least a pair of made three-pointers in 32 games.

Fast forward to Momcilovic committing to Kentucky, and Pope’s comments from the NCAA Tournament feel foreshadow-y. “They earn him a lot of shots with their pace. They earn him shots with actions.” That sure sounds exactly like how Pope will use Momcilovic in Lexington next season. Pope wants his offense to play fast and shoot a ton of threes. Momcilovic has been in a system like that already and should have little trouble doing the same wearing the blue and white.

Pope already knew of Momcilovic before March, too. When he was still the head coach at BYU, Pope’s Cougars took on a freshman Momcilovic twice during the 2023-24 regular season. In a road loss to BYU, Momcilovic went for 11 points on 3-10 shooting (1-6 3PT) before posting just six points on 3-8 shooting (0-3 3PT) in the rematch, a win for Iowa State. He sure has come a long way since then, though.