Kentucky basketball offense delivers in 1st exhibition game under Mark Pope at Rupp Arena
LEXINGTON — The talk surrounding Kentucky basketball, from the moment Mark Pope took over his alma mater in April, oriented around offense. Pope’s bread and butter. What became his brand at BYU with his right-hand man, assistant coach and offensive coordinator, Cody Fueger.
Wednesday, the time for talk ended. And it became a reality in line with the dreams of every UK fan.
In its opening exhibition of the 2024-25 preseason, Kentucky used a high-flying offensive attack to overwhelm Kentucky Wesleyan, 123-52, at Rupp Arena.
The Wildcats dominated every department.
They made 63.2% of their shots from the field. They knocked down 50% of their 3-point attempts. All 11 scholarship players who entered the game scored at least two points. (Senior guard Kerr Kriisa sat out Wednesday’s festivities with a hamstring injury.)
Senior guard Jaxson Robinson, the only Wildcat who previously had played for Pope after spending the past two seasons at BYU, was Wednesday’s leading scorer, pouring in 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting (5 for 9 on 3s).
Seven more Kentucky players joined him with double-digit scoring performances: Otega Oweh (18 points), Ansley Almonor (15), Koby Brea (13), Amari Williams (12), Trent Noah (12), Lamont Butler (11) and Andrew Carr (10).
The lethal nature of UK’s high-octane attack evinced itself during multiple stretches of Wednesday night’s contest.
Tied at 4-all less than three minutes in, the Wildcats proceeded to go on a 23-6 run in the next six-plus minutes. The hosts had two more runs of 10-0, or better, before the first half concluded, jogging into the locker room up 60-24.
As well as UK played offensively in the opening 20 minutes, they were even better in the final 20 — they put 63 more points on the board.
UK concludes the preseason next week, with another exhibition at Rupp Arena. This time, it welcomes Minnesota State Mankato to town. The Wildcats never have faced the Mavericks. Minnesota State Mankato is the reigning national champion in Division II, finishing 35-2 overall last season.
The game is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Oct. 29. It will stream on SEC Network+.
This story will be updated.
Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.
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