LEXINGTON, Ky. — No. 8 Kentucky men’s basketball earned an ugly victory over Western Kentucky inside Rupp Arena to round out the BBN Invitational on Tuesday. The contest ended 87-68.
The win marked the sixth straight for Head Coach Mark Pope’s Cats, who remain undefeated on the season.
Entering the game off the back of two blowout wins over Lipscomb and Jackson State in the BBN Invitational, the Cats utilized a familiar starting lineup of Otega Oweh, Lamont Butler, Jaxson Robinson, Andrew Carr and Amari Williams.
Things would get off to a sloppy start for both teams as Kentucky fans would be treated to seeing plenty of early subs with the insertions of Koby Brea, Brandon Garrison, Ansley Almonor, Kerr Kriisa and Collin Chandler.
Despite that, over eight minutes into the half Kentucky led by just three as shots failed to land for Pope’s squad.
While Kentucky would create a bit of separation, a dreadful offensive plague struck both teams as neither could sink a shot seemingly if their lives depended upon it.
Despite this, Kentucky would lead by as many as 16 points as it did just enough to be better than the Hilltoppers.
This would change, however, as a UK scoring lull would allow the Toppers back within single digits before the Cats could finish with some big plays to make the gap 12 at the halftime break.
Kentucky would start the second half hot, forcing a WKU timeout just over a minute into play, but quickly returned to Earth, with the Hilltoppers once again briefly getting back within single digits.
By the time former Kentucky football player Dicky Lyons Jr. was brought out to be the ‘Y’ in the Kentucky spell out, the Cats led by 11 with just under five minutes gone from the half.
WKU would chip into that lead again and, by the time Kentucky commit Jasper Johnson was brought out onto the court, the Hilltoppers had a chance to get back within six.
In spite of that, the poor offense bug would strike again and this time it would bite Bowling Green’s own as the Hilltoppers would go 3.5 minutes without scoring a point to allow the Cats to extend the lead back up to 16.
The gap would continue to fluctuate, but for all intents and purposes things stayed in UK’s favor as the Cats grinded out perhaps their sloppiest victory of the season thus far.
Kentucky will return to action on Friday, Nov. 29, against Georgia State at home inside Rupp Arena. Tipoff against the Panthers is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET and will air live on the SEC Network.
