It didn't take long for the new-look Kentucky offense to get going Wednesday night.
The first exhibition game of the Mark Pope era was off and running after only a couple of slow minutes at the start, and the Wildcats went on to defeat Kentucky Wesleyan in a 123-52 rout in Rupp Arena.
Eight different UK players scored in double figures, led by Jaxson Robinson with 19 points. Otega Oweh was next with 18 points, while Lamont Butler had 11 points, six rebounds, six assists and six steals. Ansley Almonor had 15 points, all of them coming off 3-pointers. Amari Williams -- the team's starting center -- had 12 points, five rebounds and six assists. And freshman Trent Noah -- the last scholarship player off the bench -- hit four 3-pointers in the final 5:29 of the game.
UK led the Panthers 60-24 at halftime.
The Rupp crowd gave Pope the loudest ovation of anyone during team introductions as the former Kentucky player settled into his new role as head coach of the Wildcats, who have a completely new roster for the 2024-25 season following the April departure of John Calipari.
UK scored the first two buckets of the game -- layups from Andrew Carr and Otega Oweh -- before Wesleyan tied it at 4-all. From there, the Cats rolled past their Division II opponents.
Oweh hit a 3-pointer to give Kentucky a 7-4 advantage, and the Panthers scored just two points over the next several minutes. By the end of the flurry, UK had gone on a 23-2 run and taken a 27-6 lead.
One of the many highlights of that sequence summed up the versatile nature of this Kentucky team.
Lamont Butler -- regarded as one of the best perimeter defenders in college basketball -- blocked a 3-point shot, 7-footer Amari Williams leapt into the air to collect the loose ball and fired off a long outlet pass, which Butler collected before dropping a no-look bounce pass to Jaxson Robinson, who flew in for a two-handed dunk that got the Rupp crowd going.
By halftime, the Cats led by 36 points. All 10 UK players who played in the first half had at least one rebound, eight of them had at least one assist, and Robinson and Oweh were both in double figures scoring, with Butler and Williams -- a highly gifted passer for a big man -- tallying five assists each.
Kentucky took its first 40-point lead with 18 minutes left in the game, its first 50-point lead before the midway point of the second half and its first 60-point lead before the final TV timeout.
The Cats scored their 100th point with 6:25 remaining. That came on UK's 35th 3-point attempt of the night, which is the number of long-range shots the team wants to average this season.
For the game, the Wildcats were 21 of 42 from 3-point range.
Wesleyan, which beat Louisville in an exhibition game last fall, returned most of its core from a team that went 21-9 and made the 2024 NCAA D2 Tournament, but they were overmatched by the Wildcats, who had a major size advantage. Wesleyan's tallest starter was 6-7, and no one else in its starting five was taller than 6-5.
UK outrebounded the Panthers 43-31 and made 27 of 34 of its 2-point shots.
The only scholarship player who wasn't available for the Wildcats on Wednesday night was senior guard Kerr Kriisa, who missed last week's Blue-White scrimmage with hamstring injury and was held out against Kentucky Wesleyan, as well.
Kriisa -- a transfer from West Virginia, and Arizona's starting point guard before that -- was out on the Rupp Arena court more than two hours before tipoff, putting up shots and going through one-on-one defensive drills. The 6-3 guard was moving well during that session.
Pope said after the Blue-White event Friday night that Kriisa "tweaked" his hamstring during conditioning earlier last week and his absence from the scrimmage was "just a precaution." It's possible that Kriisa will also miss next week's exhibition finale against Minnesota State Mankato, but he's expected to be ready to play in the season opener against Wright State on Nov. 4.
The first starting lineup of the (preseason) Pope era consisted of Lamont Butler, Otega Oweh, Jaxson Robinson, Andrew Carr and Amari Williams.
Butler, Robinson, Carr and Williams were expected to be starters on this team, leaving the final wing spot as the biggest mystery in Pope's lineup. Oweh was viewed as one of the most likely options, along with 3-point sharpshooter Koby Brea, who hit at a 49.8% rate from long range at Dayton last season. Former top-40 recruit Collin Chandler -- a standout in the Blue-White scrimmage last week -- and Kerr Kriisa, who started a total of 93 games at Arizona and West Virginia, might also be options moving forward.
At the first TV timeout, Brea came in for Oweh, and sophomore big man Brandon Garrison -- a former McDonald's All-American -- subbed in for Williams. Shortly after that, Chandler, Travis Perry and Ansley Almonor checked into the game for Butler, Robinson and Carr.
Freshman Trent Noah made his first appearance with 11:11 remaining in the second half.
Pope said earlier this month that he wouldn't necessarily have a set starting five as the season progresses. "I think that's a pretty dynamic space," he said.
Kentucky will play its second and final exhibition game Tuesday night in Rupp Arena against Minnesota State Mankato, the reigning Division II national champions. The game should provide a relatively tough preseason test for the Wildcats, who will tip off their 2024-25 regular-season schedule six days later.
UK's matchup with Minnesota State is set for a 7 p.m. tipoff and will be streamed live on SEC Network Plus.
The Herald-Leader launched a free UK men's basketball newsletter -- Beyond the Arc -- earlier this week, and it will feature the latest updates, analysis and inside information on the Wildcats throughout the 2024-25 season. You can sign up for the Beyond the Arc newsletter here.
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