LEXINGTON, Ky. — No. 23 Kentucky men’s basketball took care of business on Monday night, opening its season with a 103-62 win over the Wright State Raiders inside Rupp Arena.
The win officially kicked off the Mark Pope era in Lexington on a positive note after the Cats breezed through preseason competitions against Kentucky Wesleyan and NCAA Division-II No. 1 Minnesota State.
Kicking things off with a starting five of Otega Oweh, Lamont Butler, Jaxson Robinson, Andrew Carr and Amari Williams — who was cleared after an injury against the Mavericks — it would be Carr who recorded the first basket of the season with a layup off an assist by Williams.
By the time the first timeout rolled around over five minutes into the game, UK led 15-8 over Wright State after struggling to shoot the ball.
Despite that, following the debuts of Koby Brea, Collin Chandler, Kerr Kriisa and Ansley Almonor, the Cats quickly found their groove and extended the lead to double digits.
This lead would stagnate briefly despite the debut of Brandon Garrison but the Cats once again found a rhythm with thunderous dunks by Oweh and Williams forcing a Raider timeout with just over three minutes to play and the lead up to 18.
By halftime, the lead was up to 22.
Back out for the second half, Kentucky started hot, with a 12-2 scoring run being punctuated by a Carr 3-pointer to extend the lead to 30 points.
With the Cats rolling from beyond the arch, and Williams reaching a double-double less than halfway through the second half, Kentucky lead by nearly 40 with almost 12 minutes remaining following a 3-pointer from Almonor.
Despite a brief hot streak from beyond the arch for the Raiders, a few response deep balls from the Cats were followed by a flashy 3-pointer from Brea to officially make the lead 40 points.
From there, Kentucky fans were treated to the debuts of Kentucky’s own Trent Noah (Harlan County) and Travis Perry (Lyon County) as the Wildcats easily bested Wright State to close the contest. Fans were also treated to, including preseason, the second 100+ point showing of the Pope era thus far.
Kentucky will return to action at home on Saturday, Nov. 9, for a matchup with the Bucknell Bison ahead of UK’s Champion’s Classic date with No. 7 Duke. Tipoff against Bucknell is scheduled for 4 p.m. ET and will air live on the SEC Network+.
