Rick Pitino has Mark Pope’s back and believes Kentucky will eventually be a “great basketball team” despite a blowout loss to Michigan State Tuesday night in the Champions Classic.

The No. 12 Wildcats were throttled by No. 17 Michigan State, 83-66, for their second loss of the young season. They also lost at in-state rival Louisville last week.

“I know [Pope] will get it going, there’s not a question in my mind,” Pitino, the Hall of Fame St. John’s coach and former Kentucky and Louisville coach, told NJ Advance Media Wednesday morning by phone.

“Right now, there are a lot of teams and we’re one of them that are nowhere near their form. And there’s a lot of us out there, because we have a lot of new players, it’s going to take time.”

Pope, now in his second season as the Kentucky coach after guiding the school to the Sweet 16 a year ago, was the captain of the school’s 1996 NCAA national championship team coached by Pitino. No. 14 St. John’s and Kentucky will square off Dec. 20 in Atlanta.

Many critics have pointed that Kentucky has a reported NIL budget of $22 million, and the team has now lost to Louisville and Michigan State despite that sizable investment in players.

“No hate but I’m pointing it out,” basketball analyst Terrence Oglesby Tweeted. “Kentucky has real problems. They paid a lot of money for those problems.”

Pitino, who is close with Pope, isn’t necessarily buying the $22 million figure, however.

“First of all, everything is exaggerated,” Pitino said. “I hear these numbers and it’s not proven. Unless it’s proven, it’s not factual. So nobody said the payroll’s $22 million, nobody knows that, nobody’s confirmed that, so people can’t make up numbers.”

He added: “I’m close with Mark and I don’t believe in these numbers. I think everybody exaggerates these numbers. I know they do with us [St. John’s] and they do with every place.”

St. John’s, like Kentucky, has multiple transfers on its roster, making it hard to cultivate the connected culture Pope is seeking. Kentucky brought in Jayden Quaintance, Kam Williams, Mouhamed Dioubate, Jaland Lowe, Denzel Aberdeen, and Reece Potter, although Quaintance and Lowe are injured.

“We are really disappointed and discouraged and just completely discombobulated right now,” Pope told reporters.

He added: “We won’t fail this season, we have just failed up until today. We will build an organization where we won’t be disrupted every time someone steps in or steps out because we’ll have a team identity not an individual identity. Until we get there we are going to really struggle. That’s my job, I’m doing it poorly. But I won’t do it poorly much longer.”

Under Hall of Fame coach Tom Izzo, who is not a fan of the transfer portal or signing former NBA G League players, Michigan State has no transfers and has enjoyed more continuity with its roster. Players like senior forward Jaxon Kohler (20 points) and junior point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. (8 points, 13 assists, 6 rebounds) both had excellent games against Kentucky.

“That’s what we call development and that’s what you call working with players,” Izzo told reporters. “You stick with them and they stick with you. Jeremy Fears is a good example there are a couple of rough years because that’s what happens when you are trying to make a boy a man and make a good player a great player.”

Pitino watched the game and pointed out that the Spartans shot 11-of-22 from deep while the Wildcats were 7-of-30. But one game doesn’t a season make.

“Michigan State made threes, which was very unexpected,” Pitino said. “But there’s no question in my mind that Kentucky come March will be a great basketball team.”

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