Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s exhibition win over Minnesota State
Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s 98-67 exhibition victory against Minnesota State on Tuesday night at Rupp Arena.
1. Jaxson Robinson showed his skills
The fact that Jaxson Robinson is the only player on the Kentucky roster who has actually played for head basketball coach Mark Pope was not the only reason the arrival of the BYU transfer was celebrated in these parts. The 2023-24 Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year is also a terrific player.
Robinson showed that Tuesday night. The 6-foot-6 Oklahoma native finished with a game-high 24 points. He was 8-for-13 shooting, including 8-for-12 from 3-point range. That’s right, all but one of Robinson’s attempts came beyond the arc.
“He’s not shy,” Pope said afterward with a smile.
He’s also versatile. Robinson also led the Cats with six rebounds, though Pope was less than pleased with his team’s effort on the boards. (“Six offensive rebounds, that’s not us,” the coach said.) Robinson also contributed three assists and made two steals.
Prediction: He will not be the SEC Sixth Man of the Year. That’s because, unlike last season, he won’t be coming off the bench. Robinson played a team-high 24 minutes Tuesday and that is likely to be the case when the season starts for real on Monday when Wright State visits Rupp.
2. Minnesota State coach: ‘I love the way they play’
Minnesota State entered Rupp as the defending NCAA Division II champions. So Mavericks coach Matt Margenthaler knows good basketball when he sees it. And in Kentucky, he said he saw good basketball.
“That’s the way we want to play,” Margenthaler said. “I love the way that they play.”
The opposing coach specifically praised how quickly Kentucky transitioned from defense to offense and vice versa, the way it set up its 3-point shots and the way UK point guard Lamont Butler plays defense.
“He’s so physical,” Margenthaler said of Butler. “He’s a man playing against boys right now.”
After going 21-for-42 on 3-point shots in last week’s 71-point rout of Kentucky Wesleyan, the Cats started out an icy 2-for-13 from three on Tuesday. No matter. They kept shooting. And warmed up. UK ended the first half making six of its 11 threes. It finished the night a respectable 13-for-37 shooting from three for 35.1%.
“Mark’s got his guy believing in the 3-point shot,” Margenthaler. “They’re going to bomb them and bomb them and bomb them.”
“I wasn’t really three with the threes in the first half,” Pope said ,,but added, “We’re going to keep shooting them.”
Said Margenthaler, “That’s fun basketball.”
3. Come Monday, the season starts for real
As previously mentioned, the season officially begins on Monday. Kentucky opens the Mark Pope era against Wright State for a 7 p.m. tipoff at Rupp on ESPNU.
Are the Cats ready? They’re going to have to be. Starting center Amari Williams left the game early in the first half and did not return to game action, though he was back out on the floor during halftime warmups. On the plus side, veteran guard Kerr Kriisa, No. 77 in your scorebook, saw his first action and contributed six assists in his first seven minutes on the floor.
Pope wasn’t happy with his team’s rebounding, but he was happy that the Cats encountered some resistance in the first half. With 9:29 left in the first period, UK’s lead was just 18-17. The Cats went on a 25-6 run after that for a 43-23 halftime spread.
“We just needed to not feel right,” said the coach, who added that he was happy with the way the Cats responded.
Come Monday, it all starts to count.
This story was originally published October 29, 2024 at 10:12 PM.
