No. 9 Kentucky men’s basketball hosted No.1 Purdue in its first exhibition contest of the year, the Wildcats defeating the top-ranked Boilermakers with a final score of 78-65

Kentucky rolled out a starting lineup consisting of Otega Oweh, Denzel Aberdeen, Trent Noah, Mouhamed Dioubate and Brandon Garrison.

Oweh moved over to the point guard spot for Jaland Lowe, who suffered a shoulder injury during the Cats’ annual Blue-White event on Oct. 17.

Purdue won the tip, and guard Fletcher Loyer started the evening off with a made 3-pointer, which was followed by a 3-point basket from Aberdeen.

Aberdeen went on to conclude his Kentucky debut with nine points, three rebounds and three assists.

At the first media timeout, Kentucky held a small 10-8 lead, with contributing points coming from Aberdeen, Oweh and Dioubate.

As the first half moved along, with 10 minutes to play, Kentucky held a 22-15 advantage following a finished layup by freshman big man Malachi Moreno.

Moreno went on to finish the game with eight points, four rebounds and one assist.

The Cats closed out the first half with an eight-point, 38-30 lead, fronted by Oweh and freshman Jasper Johnson, who each held a team-high eight points.

Kentucky shot 47% from the field and 31% from downtown through one.

The second half opened with a made jump shot by Purdue’s Trey Kaufman-Renn following a turnover from Oweh, but similar to the first half, Purdue’s flashy start didn’t faze the Cats — not one bit.

Kentucky commanded a strong lead through its defensive efforts, forcing a 6:49 drought without a Boilermaker field goal and, on top of that, all players contributed to a strong offensive showing as every player that touched the court scored at least one point.

Johnson finished the game with a team-high 15 points as Kentucky took down the No. 1 Boilermakers by a total of 13 points.

Kentucky is back for one more exhibition game on Thursday, Oct. 30, against the Georgetown Hoyas. Tipoff for that game is set for 7 p.m. ET and can be viewed on SEC Network+.