No. 9 Kentucky men’s basketball (5-0) defeated the Jackson State Tigers (0-5) 108-59 on Friday night inside of Rupp Arena.
The Cats rolled out their familiar starting lineup consisting of Andrew Carr, Amari Williams, Otega Oweh, Jaxson Robinson and Lamont Butler.
Jackson State won the opening tip but was unable to capitalize on its first possession as UK forced an early shot clock violation.
An opening defensive stand foreshadowed UK’s night on the back end as the Cats registered nine total blocks, forced 17 turnovers and held the Tigers to just 59 points.
On Kentucky’s first possession, Robinson missed a close layup, which was followed up by a Williams block on the defensive end.
The next trip down, Robinson made up for his blown layup by getting UK on the board with a made 3-pointer. Robinson went on to close the game out with 14 total points.
At the first media timeout, the Cats held a 15-7 lead courtesy of four points by Oweh, five points by Butler and six points by Robinson.
Oweh concluded the game by leading all scorers with 21 points while Butler contributed 11 points, four rebounds and five assists to the statsheet.
The Tigers’ first five points were sponsored by a made triple by Dorian McMillian and two made free-throws from Shannon Grant.
After checking in for the first time with just under 15 minutes to go in the first half, UK’s Ansley Almonor drained his first three-point field goal of the night, which was then followed by a finished layup through contact by Koby Brea.
The quick five points were enough to force Jackson State Head Coach Mo Williams to call his first timeout of the game with UK leading 23-12.
Almonor completed the game by contributing ten points and three rebounds off the bench.
Kentucky was able to manufacture 31 points within the first 11:57 of the game.
The Cats finished the first half with a 54-30 lead, shooting 22-37 (59.5%) from the field and 8-20 (40%) from deep.
Out of the break, Robinson jump-started the Cats again, flushing home a thunderous dunk after Oweh recorded his third steal of the game.
With just over 13 minutes to go in the game, UK established a 32-point lead after a put-back dunk by Williams, who went on to finish the game with four points.
Up to that point in the contest, Brea only had four points, however, he quickly tacked on four more points after that, sinking one-of-two free-throws and following that up with a made triple.
Brea went on to close out the game with a team-high 22 points while shooting 8-11 (72.7%) from the field and 5-8 (62.5%) from deep.
Kentucky’s very own Travis Perry checked into the game — for the fourth time this season including preseason — with 5:50 remaining and quickly made an impact, netting a step-back 3-pointer to lift UK to another 100+ point performance.
With just under three minutes left in action, another homegrown Kentucky player, Trent Noah, checked into the game for the fourth time this season and made landfall, nailing a corner 3-pointer and elevating the decibels in Rupp Arena.
Kentucky rounded out the game shooting 41-71 (57.7%) from the field and 17-39 (43.6%) from downtown.
The Cats are back in action on Tuesday, Nov. 26, hosting the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers at 6:30 p.m. in Rupp Arena. That contest will air live on ESPNU.
