Kentucky men’s basketball coach Mark Pope was fined $25,000 by the SEC on Tuesday after the microphone at the podium in Auburn picked up comments he made to athletic director Mitch Barnhart following the Wildcats’ loss to the Tigers on Saturday.

“Mitch, if those mother f****** try to fine me, screw ‘em because I did not say a word about how they cheated us all night,” Pope said.

Sure enough, a fine happened a few days later. The SEC said that Pope violated the league’s rule that says “coaches, players and support personnel shall refrain from all public criticism of officials, which shall include making public any specific communications with the conference office and/or officiating coordinators related to officiating.”

Auburn won the game 75-74 on a tip-in by Elijah Freeman with 1.1 seconds to go. Kentucky’s Collin Chandler was called for an offensive foul with 14 seconds to go and the Wildcats leading by one. The foul gave the ball to Auburn with a chance to win the game, and Freeman tipped in a miss at the rim from KeShawn Murphy.

"Well we're not allowed to talk about the referees but you guys saw it and I think sometimes it's just super personal," Pope said Saturday when asked about the foul on Chandler. "So I’m not allowed to comment on the referees, I won’t comment on the referees. It’s unfortunate. It’s just unfortunate. It didn’t cost us the game. We’re in control of the game so we’ll find ways to go win.”

The loss dropped Kentucky to 17-10 overall and 8-6 in the SEC. It was also the third straight loss for the Wildcats after they lost by nine at Florida and fell by eight points at home to Georgia.

The Georgia loss was Kentucky’s second home SEC loss of the season after the Wildcats lost their home-opener to Missouri. It was the first time the Tigers had ever won at Rupp Arena.

Ahead of Tuesday night’s game at South Carolina — who is tied for 13th in the conference at 3-11 — Kentucky is tied for sixth in the SEC with Vanderbilt, Missouri and Texas.