Going into Kentucky’s first exhibition of the preseason, many were unsure what the new era of Kentucky Basketball would look like. Matching up against the D-ll Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers, the Wildcats looked mightily impressive in a 123-52 win.

Out of the gate, Kentucky opened up strong, building a 22-6 lead in the first eight minutes of action. Jaxson Robinson put up 13 points in the first half, displaying his familiarity with Pope’s system. Lamont Butler defended at an elite level, creating 4 steals in 16 minutes of play in the first half. Kentucky Wesleyan had no match for Otega Oweh who helped boost the scoring with 11 first-half points.

Kentucky finished with 60 first-half points on 62% shooting from the field and made 8 of their 20 three-point field goal attempts coming out to 40% from behind the arc in an offensive explosion in the first half. The Cats took the Panthers into the breakup 60-24.

Mark Pope’s squad wasted no time in the second half, as they continued to pile on the points. It was the expected supporting pieces performing so well.

Fairleigh Dickinson transfer Ansley Almonor went 3 of 3 from behind the arc in the second half. However, it wasn’t Almonor who took the crowd by storm, rather it was Harlan native Freshman Trent Noah.

Checking in at the under-12 timeout, Noah went on to make four three-point field goals in just a little over nine minutes. Scoring all of his 12 points in the second half, he led the Wildcats in scoring in the half, and he walked off the court to a loud ovation from the fans inside Rupp. However, it wasn’t just the fans, it was the bench as well. “Kerr (Kriisa), I thought he was going to start ripping his clothes off he was so excited,” Pope said after the game.

Overall, the Cats’ 71-point victory is the third-largest exhibition win in program history. The way they did it made it look even better, shooting the ball incredibly well and great ball movement. Shooting 21/42 (50%) from three, Pope made good on his word to shoot 35-plus threes. All eleven players scored, and ten recorded at least one assist.

Keys of the Game

During his post-game comments, Mark Pope mentioned a couple of keys that helped Kentucky win the game so convincingly.

The first was Lamont Butler who had six steals, which outnumbered the total turnovers by the team (5). “I have never seen that before,” Pope said after looking at the box score.

The great assist-to-turnover margin was also something Pope was notably proud of. 32 assists to just 5 turnovers, a 6.4:1 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Pope also mentioned Otega Oweh’s ability to create in the lane for himself and his teammates which opened the court for more scoring opportunities for the Cats.

Pope was excited for what is next for his team and their togetherness that could lead them to the promised land. This Kentucky team has the ability to exceed expectations this season if they continue to improve on the solid effort they put on display tonight.

Box Score

Highlights

When do the Cats get back to Action?

Kentucky will hit the floor next week for their second and last exhibition game. They will face Minnesota State Mankato, a defending National Champion on the D-ll level who has made a name for themselves under coach Matt Margenthaler. The game is on October 29th at Rupp Arena and will be at 7 PM, fans can find the game on SEC NETWORK+.

With the NBA season right around the corner, the annual general manager survey was recently released, giving insights into how league GMs think the season will play out.

Among dozens of questions, they were asked who will win the Rookie of the Year award. Fifty percent of them picked Kentucky’s own Reed Sheppard. To put that number in perspective, last year’s survey picked Victor Wembanyama by a margin of 50% as well.

Also voted on was which rookie would be the best player in five years. Again, Sheppard took this category with 43% of the votes.

It isn’t hard to see why NBA executives are high on Sheppard after his summer league performance. He averaged 20.0 points, 5.3 assists, 4.8 rebounds, 2.8 steals, and 1.3 blocks per game while shooting 50% from the floor over his four-game span. That stat line was enough to garner All-Summer League First Team honors.

Winning individual honors won’t be something new for Sheppard. At Kentucky, he joined John Wall, and Anthony Davis as Freshman of the Year recipients. Sheppard was selected as the National Freshman of the Year, SEC Freshman of the Year, and 2nd team All-SEC by both the Associated Press and the league itself.

Before Mark Pope became the head coach of Kentucky, he was a proud alum and fan. As he married his wife, Lee Anne, and began to raise his three young daughters, those experiences and that fandom were passed on, including the Kentucky-Louisville rivalry.

During the 2024 Wildcat Tipoff Luncheon in Lousiville on Monday, the first lady of Kentucky basketball threw a funny jab at the school down the road after being asked about the rivalry.

“We have a mole in our backyard that we’re trying to kill,” Mrs. Pope said. “We’ve nicknamed it ‘The Cardinal.’”

“Would you like to add to that?” she asked her husband.

“I’ll just verify that is a true story,” Mark joked. “If you’ve ever had a mole in your backyard, it’s tearing up your shrubs and ruining the grass, dirt everywhere. It’s driving us crazy. So it’s aptly named.”

Following the crowd’s laughter, the well-spoken coach gave his true thoughts on Kentucky’s rivalry with Louisville, as well as other rivalries such as Indiana, which is set to resume next season.

“I love the rivalry. I actually love it,” Pope said. Rivalries are what make college sports great. The great Pete Carroll, who I’ve had the chance to spend some time with through a third party, he talks about how much you love the competitors that drive you every day toward greatness. Rivalries do that, certainly, our rivalries with Indiana and Louisville that have been here forever, are really important to Kentucky basketball.”

December 14th can’t come fast enough.