New stars emerge for Kentucky in blowout win over Howard to tip off the 2022-23 season
READ MORE
Game day: No. 4 Kentucky 95, Howard 63
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Monday night’s men’s basketball season opener between Kentucky and Howard in Rupp Arena.
Expand All
With Kentucky’s stars still sidelined to begin the 2022-23 college basketball season, a few other Wildcats got a chance at the spotlight.
UK started its regular season without three key players — national player of the year Oscar Tshiebwe, all-league point guard Sahvir Wheeler and sophomore forward Daimion Collins — but it didn’t impact the final outcome Monday night. The Cats defeated Howard University, 95-63, in Rupp Arena with just eight available scholarship players.
Things started a bit clunky for the short-handed Wildcats. It took nearly six minutes for someone other than freshman Cason Wallace to make a basket, and UK had just 13 points at the under-12 TV timeout in the first half. Not long after that, the rout was on.
A 23-16 Kentucky lead out of the under-8 timeout grew to a 49-26 advantage by halftime, a 26-10 flurry that featured points from seven different Kentucky players.
In the end, Antonio Reeves led the Cats with 22 points, going 6-for-12 from three-point range. CJ Fredrick added 20 points in his first game as a Wildcat.
Jacob Toppin recorded a double-double — the first of his college career — by the midway point of the second half, finishing with 15 points and 11 rebounds. And Wallace flirted with a triple-double for the Cats, ending his first college game with 15 points, eight rebounds and nine assists while running the point guard spot in place of Wheeler.
John Calipari spent a good portion of his pregame radio interview Monday night highlighting two topics, seemingly preparing listeners for a possible letdown in the season opener: Kentucky would have just eight scholarship players, and Howard would be a tough opponent. The Bison finished second in the MEAC last season and were picked third in the league poll this preseason, bolstered by the return of all-conference players Elijah Hawkins and Steve Settle III.
Howard stayed competitive with Kentucky during the opening minutes, but — once the Cats found their footing — it wasn’t much of a contest. The Bison shot just 27.8 percent in the first half and missed 11 of their first 12 three-point attempts.
UK’s lead reached 30 points before the first TV timeout of the second half.
Kentucky starting lineup
On Sunday afternoon, UK associate coach Orlando Antigua referred to Kentucky missing “three starters” with the absence of Oscar Tshiebwe, Sahvir Wheeler and Daimion Collins.
Obviously, Tshiebwe and Wheeler — two preseason all-SEC players — will be in the starting five when they return to the court. Collins was expected to be a major part of this Kentucky team, though it’s not clear if he would have been in the opening starting five.
With those players out, the Wildcats’ starters on Monday night were Cason Wallace, CJ Fredrick, Chris Livingston, Jacob Toppin and Lance Ware.
The only scholarship players on the bench were transfer guard Antonio Reeves, who led the Cats in scoring during the summer exhibition trip to the Bahamas, and freshmen Adou Thiero and Ugonna Onyenso.
Ceremony for Oscar
Reigning national player of the year Oscar Tshiebwe didn’t play Monday night, the opening defense of his status as college basketball’s biggest star pushed further into the future, but he was honored on the Rupp Arena court before the starting lineups were introduced.
Tshiebwe received his Naismith player of the year trophy in front of the Rupp crowd, and he was also given a special 1,000-point basketball, handed over by John Calipari.
The Kentucky star enters this season with 1,023 career points. He scored 433 points in a season and a half at West Virginia and 590 points last season with the Wildcats. He passed the 1,000-point mark in UK’s loss to Saint Peter’s in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, leading the Cats with 30 points (and 16 rebounds) in that game.
What’s next for UK?
Kentucky will host Duquesne on Friday at 7 p.m., with the game scheduled for SEC Network.
The Dukes had a 6-24 record last season, finishing 14th and last in the Atlantic 10 with a 1-16 league mark. Duquesne was picked to finish last in the conference again this season at the A-10’s league media day last month.
This story was originally published November 7, 2022 at 8:29 PM.
