MILWAUKEE, Wis. — No. 3 Kentucky men’s basketball took care of business against No. 14 Troy 76-57 inside Fiserv Forum in the first round of the 2025 Men’s NCAA Tournament on Friday.
The win not only ensured UK wouldn’t suffer its third first-round upset in four years, it also gave Head Coach Mark Pope his first ever head coaching win in the big dance.
Kentucky entered the contest 1-1 in the postseason with Pope and, now with Lamont Butler back in the lineup, looked to get things underway and shake off the bad streak of postseason performances by the program.
Kicking off his mission, Pope marched out a starting lineup of Otega Oweh, Butler, Koby Brea, Andrew Carr and Amari Williams.
Things got off to a concerning start for the Kentucky faithful as the Cats struggled to separate themselves from the Trojans. By the first timeout, both Brandon Garrison and Travis Perry had checked in, but UK led just 11-9.
Collin Chandler and Ansley Almonor would soon find their ways onto the court but an inability to hit from beyond the arch kept things tight.
Trent Noah would be the final scholarship Cat to make his way into the contest and he would come up big, nailing UK’s second 3-pointer of the night to kick off what would finish as a 10-0 scoring run.
The Trojans would sink a 3-pointer before halftime, but the damage had been done as the final score of the half reflected an eight-point gap in favor of the Wildcats.
Back out for the second half of play, UK quickly extended its lead into double figures and held it there.
The Trojans briefly got back within single digits after offensive droughts from both sides, but, from there, Chandler and Garrison would team up to propel Kentucky to a 15-0 scoring run (nine from Chandler, six from Garrison). This run would put UK up by over 20 points.
Another scoring drought would see the Trojans score some unanswered points, but, by the under-seven media timeout, Kentucky led by 17.
Kentucky fans wouldn’t be able to just relax, however, as a 9-0 scoring run by Troy put the Trojans back within 13, forcing a UK timeout. Out of the timeout, however, UK would rattle off a 7-0 scoring run to extend the lead back to 20 and calm down its traveling fans a tad.
The Kentucky lead would get as large as 25 before Pope would insert walk-ons Walker Horn, Grant Darbyshire and Zach Tow.
With the win Kentucky will turn its eyes to the final game of the night in Milwaukee between Illinois and Xavier as the Cats will face the winner on Sunday in the second round of March Madness. Tipoff between the Musketeers and Fighting Illini is scheduled for 9:45 p.m. ET and will air live on CBS.
