Big Blue Preview: Kentucky vs. Minnesota State
No. 23 Kentucky hosts its final exhibition contest on Tuesday night as the Cats welcome defending Division II national champion Minnesota State Mankato to Rupp Arena.
The Cats had little trouble in their exhibition opener, topping Kentucky Wesleyan 123-52. Kentucky had eight players in double figures in the game, led by Jaxson Robinson, who had 19 points.
Starting point guard Lamont Butler thinks the Cats got valuable experience in the Kentucky Wesleyan game.
“We learned a lot. We were finally able to play somebody else,” Butler said. “It was very fun to all be on the same team and the same bench. We played very well. We were very unselfish, did not have many turnovers.”
For some of the Cats, playing at the high tempo that coach Mark Pope wants was new to them. How did Butler think UK handled the pace?
“I think we were really good pushing the pace,” he said. “We had a lot of transition opportunities, a lot of transition points. We were able to execute it. We’ve got to continue to do that. It’s going to be big for us this year.”
Butler had an impressive stat line against KWC. He had 11 points, six rebounds, six assists, six steals and two blocked shots. He prides himself on defense, which he believes is his calling card.
“I just try to go out there and do what I can do,” Butler said. “I’m not a big stats guy. Those are great stats, but I just go out there and try to do my best. I just go out there and try to disrupt, making it hard for the opposing team. It was six steals that night but one night it might be one steal but holding someone to a low number (of points).”
Butler knows that Minnesota State is a championship program and that the Cats will need to be prepared for Tuesday’s contest.
“Minnesota State is a really good team. They won the national championship for Division II,” Butler said. “I think they have three or four returners from last year’s team. We’re just trying to play hard, try to stop their actions, things like that.”
While the Cats will scout the Mavericks, they will continue to focus on improving themselves. When asked what Kentucky wanted to get out of the final exhibition game, Butler said as much.
“For us to continue to not play to the competition but to play to our standards is going to be huge,” he said.
Tuesday’s game tips off at 7 p.m. ET and can be seen on SEC Network Plus.
Kentucky Wesleyan Recap
The Mark Pope era began with fireworks as the Wildcats blasted Kentucky Wesleyan, 123-52, in their first game against outside competition under their new head coach.
Eight players scored in double-figures for UK, with Jaxson Robinson finishing as the high scorer at 19 points in the contest.
The Cats displayed their 3-point shooting prowess, connecting on 21-of-42 attempts from behind the arc, led by five 3s apiece from Robinson and Ansley Almonor. Had this been a regular-season game, UK would have tied the school single-game record for 3-pointers made. The Wildcats made 21 against North Carolina in 1989.
Kentucky dished out 32 assists on 48 made field goals and committed just five turnovers. The 32 assists are only three shy of the official school record of 35 vs. San Jose State in 1996.
Here’s to You, Mr. Robinson
Kentucky guard Jaxson Robinson was named to the preseason All-Southeastern Conference Third Team as announced in mid October.
• The grad transfer from Brigham Young University comes to Kentucky as the 2023-24 Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year after leading Mark Pope’s Cougars in scoring at 14.2 points per game
• Robinson was the first bench player in BYU program history to pace the team in scoring and did so while shooting 42.6% from the field and 35.4% from beyond the 3-point arc, all career- bests.
• Robinson reached double-digit scoring in 25 of 33 games played last season, connecting on 81 3-pointers and burying at least one triple in each of the team’s final 21 games.
