Kentucky opens basketball season with plenty of flash in win over New Mexico State
READ MORE
Game day: No. 16 Kentucky 86, New Mexico State 46
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 New Mexico State in Rupp Arena.
Expand All
It took these Wildcats a little while to get going, but once they did, it was plenty entertaining.
Kentucky defeated New Mexico State 86-46 to open the 2023-24 college basketball season Monday night in Rupp Arena, the new-look Cats starting their campaign off on the right foot.
UK didn’t take its first double-digit lead over the Aggies until about two minutes before halftime, but the Cats came out firing in the second half, and their lead was never lower than 12 points over the final 18:19 of the game.
Freshman guard Rob Dillingham led the Wildcats with 17 points, chipping in five rebounds, three assists and making a number of dazzling plays. Fellow freshman D.J. Wagner had 13 points, with two more freshmen — Justin Edwards and Reed Sheppard — scoring 12 points. Antonio Reeves joined them in double figures with 11 points.
Kentucky shot just 38.7% from the field in the first half — going 4 of 13 on 3-pointers before halftime — taking a while to settle in against a New Mexico State team that featured a new coaching staff and completely revamped roster.
There were some highlights in that first 20 minutes, but the real fireworks happened after halftime.
The Cats made their first three shots out of the break, continually attacked the rim and made things tough on the Aggies on the defensive end. The second half was mostly a mix of 3-point attempts, dunks and layups — “modern” basketball, some might call it — and the Rupp Arena crowd had plenty to cheer about after an uneven start to the game.
It was also a balanced attack from Kentucky, which didn’t have a player in double figures until Reeves hit a transition layup with 11:53 remaining. Sheppard joined him there with a pull-up jumper about 30 seconds later to give the Cats their first 20-point lead of the night, and the rout was on from there. The next four UK baskets — scored by four different Cats — were dunks or layups, and Kentucky came up with steals on the other end to keep the action fast.
The Wildcats finished the game with 13 steals and 25 fast-break points. UK committed just six turnovers, with only one of those coming in the first half. The Cats also had 14 layups and five dunks on the night.
UK freshman Zvonimir Ivisic was at Rupp Arena on Monday night, but the 7-foot-2 center did not go through pregame warmups with the Wildcats and didn’t appear in the game. The NCAA is still reviewing his eligibility status for the 2023-24 season.
Kentucky’s starting lineup
John Calipari rolled with the same starting five Monday night as he used in the Wildcats’ two exhibition games.
Freshmen D.J. Wagner and Justin Edwards, and fifth-year players Antonio Reeves and Tre Mitchell were seen as virtual locks to start for the Cats, and they did. The fifth spot — especially with UK’s three 7-footers sidelined — was more of a question entering the preseason, but Calipari went with sophomore guard Adou Thiero in the preseason and stuck with him for the opener.
Thiero was a point guard for much of his high school career, but a late growth spurt allows him more versatility on the court, and Calipari is looking for him to be one of the team’s more physical players while those big men remain out. Listed at 6-8 and 222 pounds and possessing impressive athleticism, Thiero will be looking for a bigger role this season after playing sporadically as a freshman. Calipari has been high on the 19-year-old’s potential going back to last season, and that praise has carried over into this one.
“He literally could be one of the best finishers in the country,” Calipari said last week.
Thiero scored the first points of UK’s season by jumping high for an offensive rebound and putback finish on the Wildcats’ opening possession. Thiero had five points and seven rebounds in 20 minutes.
Reed Sheppard watch
Whenever a Kentucky kid makes his regular-season debut in Rupp Arena, it’s a momentous occasion. Freshman guard Reed Sheppard — the son of two former UK basketball stars — did just that Monday night against New Mexico State.
Sheppard entered the game for the first time following the first TV timeout of the night, with 14:04 left in the first half. His first basket came with 6:06 left before halftime, when Sheppard managed a back-tap steal that was saved from going out of bounds by D.J. Wagner, who flipped the ball back to Sheppard for a fast-break dunk. He was later fouled on a 3-point attempt — and made all three free throws — then hit a 3-pointer with 1:50 left in the half.
Sheppard tied for a team-high with eight points at halftime and finished with 12 points, five rebounds, two assists, two blocks and two steals.
The 6-3 newcomer is just the fourth scholarship player from Kentucky to sign with the Wildcats since John Calipari took over as head coach before the 2009-10 season. Two of the others — Dominique Hawkins (Madison Central) and Dontaie Allen (Pendleton County) — earned Kentucky Mr. Basketball honors as high school seniors, as Sheppard did at North Laurel last season. The other, Derek Willis (Bullitt East), emerged as a starter for the Wildcats toward the end of his UK career. (Willis and Hawkins were in the same high school class of 2013.)
Sheppard is also the son of 1998 Final Four MVP Jeff Sheppard and former UK women’s basketball standout Stacey Reed Sheppard.
The younger Sheppard is wearing jersey No. 15 this season in honor of his father.
Next UK basketball game
The Wildcats will return to the Rupp Arena court Friday night to face Texas A&M-Commerce. The game is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will be shown on SEC Network+.
Texas A&M-Commerce is entering season two of its transition from Division II to DI status, so the Lions won’t be eligible for the NCAA Tournament until 2027. They finished with a 13-20 record and a 9-9 mark in the Southland Conference last season, ending up at No. 307 in the final KenPom ratings. They started this season at No. 283 on that list of 362 teams.
The Lions will serve as Kentucky’s final tuneup for No. 1 Kansas — with the two blue bloods slated to play each other in the Champions Classic on Nov. 14 in Chicago.
This story was originally published November 6, 2023 at 9:54 PM.
