Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s exhibition rout of Kentucky Wesleyan
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Game day: Kentucky 123, Kentucky Wesleyan 52
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Wednesday night’s men’s basketball exhibition game between Kentucky and Kentucky Wesleyan in Rupp Arena.
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Three takeaways from Kentucky men’s basketball’s 123-52 win over Kentucky Wesleyan in an exhibition game at Rupp Arena on Wednesday night.
1. Kentucky impressively shared the basketball
Kentucky rocked and rolled through its first exhibition game under new coach Mark Pope by a whopping 71 points. It shot a sizzling 63.2 percent from the floor. It took an eye-popping number of 42 3-point shots and made an equally eye-popping number of 21 of those for an even 50 percent.
But the most impressive stat of the night was the fact the Cats were credited with 32 assists. It also committed a mere five turnovers. Ponder that. This is a team with 11 scholarship players — the 12th, Kerr Kriisa did not play because of injury — that had never played together before in an actual game — “wearing official uniforms,” Pope said afterward — until Wednesday night. Only one of those players, BYU transfer Jaxson Robinson, had been coached by Pope before. And you’d think they had played together forever.
“We were really sharing the ball the way we hoped to and anticipate that we will,” Pope said afterward.
Lamont Butler and big man Amari Williams led the way with six assists each. (More on Butler later.) Collin Chandler had four. Otega Oweh and Travis Perry contributed three each.
“They have some high IQ players,” said Kentucky Wesleyan coach Drew Cooper, after apologizing that his Panthers didn’t put up a better fight.
Yes, it was an exhibition game against a Division II team, but seriously 32 assists. Five turnovers. Seriously.
2. Watching Lamont Butler is a treat
Lamont Butler is fun to watch. And he’s fun to watch in a different way for a team that will wow you offensively with the way it gets the ball up and down the floor quickly, fires up a boatload of 3-pointers and will spread the floor in the way NBA teams spread the floor.
A three-time Mountain West Conference Defensive Player of the Year at San Diego State, Butler showed Wednesday why he has that particular trophy in his case. In addition to his six assists, the 6-foot-2 guard had six steals and two blocked shots. He also did not commit a single turnover in his 25:07 on the floor, the most of any Cat in the game.
“He had more steals than out team had turnovers,” Pope said. “I’ve never seen that before.”
Pope also said this of Butler, “I think he’s the best defensive perimeter player in college basketball.”
It will be fun to watch Butler prove his coach right.
3. We must talk about the 3-pointers
That Kentucky took 42 3-pointers was not really a surprise. Last season, Pope’s BYU Cougars were among the nation’s leaders in 3-point attempts. And the new coach has said he wants his first edition of Cats to average 35 3-point attempts a game. (He amended that Wednesday night to say at least 30.)
It is another thing to actually see a Kentucky team take advantage of a continuous green light. And, even though the competition was from NCAA Division II, it’s another thing to see the Cats bury that many 3s.
Robinson was 5-of-9 shooting beyond the arc. Ansley Almonor was 5-of-7 shooting 3s. After not playing in the first half, Kentuckian Trent Noah made 4 of 5 3s in the second half, including a quick string of three — boom, boom, boom — that earned the most prolonged cheer of the night.
“Our guys loved it,” said Pope of Noah’s three consecutive triples. “Kerr (Kriisa) was so excited, I though he was going to rip his clothes off.”
Pope cautioned that we should not expect his Cats to take 42 3-point shots every game. That’s hard to do, he said. But he also said something that left you asking yourself just how many 3-pointers his team might actually shoot in a game.
Said the coach, “I thought we turned a couple down I wish we had taken.”
Oh boy.
This story was originally published October 23, 2024 at 10:29 PM.
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