Otega Oweh scored 21 points on 8-of-9 shooting from the field and Koby Brea shot 4-for-4 from 3-point land and scored 18 points to lead No. 23 Kentucky to a 103-62 season-opening win over Wright State on Monday in Lexington, Ky.
Lamont Butler registered a strong performance, scoring 14 points while leading the Wildcats with five assists. Amari Williams added 12 points and 13 rebounds, while Andrew Carr chipped in 11 points.
The Wildcats made a winner of new head coach Mark Pope, a Kentucky alum who took over college basketball’s winningest program in April after a successful stint at BYU.
Wright State had an abysmal first-half shooting performance, going 10-of-36 from the field and 3-of-17 from three-point range. The Raiders made just three shots over the first eight minutes of the second half on their way to finishing 24-of-68 from the field for the game and 5-of-27 from beyond the arc, a far cry from leading the nation in field goal percentage a season ago.
Kentucky shot an impressive 60 percent from the field (39-for-65), including 11-of-24 from three-point range. The Wildcats got off to a hot start, making six of their first nine shots to take a 15-8 lead. Brea scored eight of Kentucky’s next 12 points as it opened a 16-point lead. That lead grew to 22 by halftime as Kentucky took a 46-24 advantage.
The transfer-laden Wildcats spread the scoring around in the first half. Five players tied for the team lead with eight points, including starters Oweh, Robinson, Carr and Williams.
Kentucky went on a 14-0 run in the opening minutes of the second half to put the game well out of reach. The Wildcats led by as many as 44 points in the second half, outscoring Wright State 57-38 in the frame.
–Field Level Media
