No. 23 Kentucky men’s basketball routed Kentucky Wesleyan in a preseason exhibition contest on Wednesday, winning 123-52 inside Rupp Arena.
Mark Pope’s Wildcats showed out in their first ever contest against another opponent after the team was put together following John Calipari’s exodus, along with nearly the entire UK roster, in the spring.
Kicking things off with a debut starting lineup of former Oklahoma Sooner Otega Oweh, former San Diego State Aztec Lamont Butler, former BYU star and NBA Draft prospect Jaxson Robinson, former Wake Forest Demon Deacon Andrew Carr and former Drexel Dragon Amari Williams, UK took a moment to get comfortable on the court before the thumping truly began.
With Carr scoring the first basket, Kentucky led just 13-6 at the first timeout over five minutes into the night.
From there, fans got their first looks of the night at former Dayton Flyer and sharpshooter Koby Brea, former Oklahoma State Cowboy Brandon Garrison, former Fairleigh Dickinson Knight Ansley Almonor and Kentucky’s own Travis Perry and the tides began to turn quickly in UK’s favor.
An 18-2 run by the Cats would force a Panther timeout before the lead would balloon out to 20 with over seven minutes remaining in the first half.
With the deep ball finally beginning to fall, that lead would become 36 at halftime with the Cats on pace to score 120 points in their debut showing against another opponent.
Back out for the second half of play, Kentucky continued to roll offensively as Pope’s track record of bringing back former UK stars continued when Travis Ford was brought out to be the “Y” in the traditional spelling out of Kentucky.
With things firmly out of reach, fans were also treated to another first-time Cat in, once again, Kentucky’s own Trent Noah out of Harlan County.
Seemingly nothing could stop the offensive frenzy for Pope’s Cats as a 3-pointer from Almonor with over six minutes remaining saw UK crack 100 points, leading by 55.
Kentucky’s lead only continued to climb as one of two returning Cats, Walker Horn, checked into the contest with under two minutes to go and Kentucky leading by 68 (118-50).
Kentucky will be back in action with preseason basketball on Tuesday, Oct. 29, at home inside Rupp Arena against reigning NCAA Division-II national champion Minnesota State-Mankato. Kickoff against the Mavericks is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET and will air live on the SEC Network+.
