{"id":510773,"date":"2026-01-02T00:23:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T00:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/510773\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T00:23:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T00:23:11","slug":"mark-pope-says-there-is-definitely-room-for-andrija-jelavic-to-play-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/510773\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Pope says there is ‘definitely room’ for Andrija Jelavi\u0107 to play more"},"content":{"rendered":"

After appearing in Kentucky\u2019s first 10 contests of the season, Andrija Jelavi\u0107<\/a> found himself on the bench in the Wildcats\u2019 following two games.<\/p>\n

Those were important matchups for Kentucky, too. UK needed to beat Indiana and St. John\u2019s in the worst way. The \u2018Cats picked up wins in both, but with Jelavi\u0107 watching from the bench for the first time all season. The 6-foot-11 sophomore returned to action against Bellarmine to close non-conference play, logging just two points and one rebound in seven minutes. Those seven minutes marked a season low for someone who had been averaging 15.5 minutes per outing through the opening 10 games of the schedule. <\/p>\n

As Kentucky begins to establish an identity of being a tough, physical, defensive-minded group, Jelavi\u0107 has found himself as the odd man out. At the same time, head coach Mark Pope<\/a> is navigating through the waters of having a fully healthy roster for the first time all season. Pope is incorporating a future NBA lottery pick, Jayden Quaintaince<\/a>, a 6-foot-10 monster of a human who takes up the same space on the floor as Jelavi\u0107, into the rotation. <\/p>\n

But there is still a long way to go this season. SEC play begins on Saturday on the road against Alabama. There are 18 more games left in the regular season. Jelavi\u0107 might not have been a factor in the last few games, but there will come a time when Pope needs the Croatian forward to step in and make plays. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been working really hard,\u201d Pope said of Jelavi\u0107 on Tuesday. \u201cI think there\u2019s space for him to really help us. At the four \u2014 as he gets more and more comfortable with the pace of the game, I think there\u2019s space for him to really help us shoot the ball. I do. I think he\u2019s a pretty good playmaker. He has had some impact in the post offensively.\u201d<\/p>\n

At least in Pope\u2019s own words, it doesn\u2019t sound like the offensive side of the ball is what\u2019s keeping Jelavi\u0107 from receiving extended minutes. He\u2019s averaging a respectable 5.6 points and four rebounds per game in his limited playing time, shooting 70 percent on his two-pointers, although he does need to see a few more drop in from deep (6-27 on the season). In general, Jelavi\u0107 has been an effective rebounder on both sides of the ball and has been a threat in transition. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s the defensive connectivity that needs improvement before Pope feels confident in feeding Jelavi\u0107 extra clock, especially with Quaintance now in the fold. <\/p>\n

\u201cHim becoming more verbal and communicative on defense is going to be really important for him because so much of where the game is going now is taxing you to make decisive communication happen in real time on the court,\u201d Pope added. \u201cAnd so that\u2019s a space where he\u2019s growing. But he\u2019s a good player and there\u2019s definitely room for him to help us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pope now has 12 players on the roster who can see the floor. It\u2019s not possible to give them all the same amount of playing time. That\u2019s going to push a few players down the depth chart. As of late, Jelavi\u0107 has been in that group, but he could easily jump out of it as the season goes along. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel for press conferences, interviews, original shows, fan features, and exclusive content.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After appearing in Kentucky\u2019s first 10 contests of the season, Andrija Jelavi\u0107 found himself on the bench in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":510774,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[4734,7],"class_list":{"0":"post-510773","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-andrija-jelavic","9":"tag-basketball"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=510773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/510774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=510773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=510773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=510773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}