10 things we learned from Kentucky's blowout win over Lipscomb

by:Jack Pilgrim•about 8 hours

DL-310346 — Dr. Michael Huang, Kentucky Sports Radio

There was never a doubt, Kentucky steamrolling Lipscomb from start to finish inside Rupp Arena to move to 4-0 on the year and 1-0 in the BBN Invitational.

What went well for the Wildcats and what does it mean as they look to continue building this early winning streak to open the Mark Pope era? KSR has the top takeaways from the rafters of Rupp.

No Duke hangover

Celebrating the Champions Classic win was fun, but how long would it linger? That was the top concern for Kentucky entering the night, just as it was when the Cats took on Bucknell before that trip to Atlanta. They couldn’t look ahead then and they couldn’t look behind now. Fortunately for us, it wasn’t a factor in either matchup, starting with a 28-point win against the Bison and following that up with a 29-point win against the Bisons with the Duke victory sandwiched between.

It wasn’t a perfect performance for Kentucky, but it was never particularly close in terms of the actual score or how things felt in real time. The Wildcats led the entire way with the 2-2 tie one minute into the game being as close as things got with the lead stretching to as many as 40.

Good teams win, great teams cover

Speaking of that 28-point win, it was enough for a cover — the fourth straight to open the season in four opportunities. Kentucky opened as a 20.5-point favorite and that got as high as 21.5 ahead of the opening tip.

Then the Cats pushed the lead to 20 points at the 6:25 mark of the first half before going into the break up 17. That quickly ballooned back up to 20-plus a little over a minute into the second and never dipped below that point the rest of the way, going up 40 before some garbage-time buckets cut it back to 29 at the final horn.

Kentucky was a 20.5-point favorite vs. Wright State and won by 41. 20.5-point favorite vs. Bucknell? 28-point win. 5.5-point underdog vs. Duke? Five-point win. That trend continued once again tonight.

Jaxson Robinson doesn’t stay quiet for long

The BYU transfer had his first game without a bucket since the 2022-23 season, scoring just one point on 0-4 shooting and 1-3 at the line in the Duke win. Pope praised his defensive effort and said the upset would not have happened without his production on that end of the floor. Still, though, there was a reason Robinson said he “let (his) team down with (his) body language last game” and “wanted to make sure (he) was aggressive and a great teammate” against Lipscomb after the win. As much as Pope tried to lift him up, he wanted to respond in his own way. That’s what makes his 20-point effort so impressive, finishing 6-10 from the field, 3-6 from three and 5-5 at the line while adding seven rebounds in 22 minutes. He wasn’t going to let one become two, leading the team in scoring for the first time this season, just as he was brought in to do.

… but Lipscomb fortunately did!

As Robinson got hot, the Bisons went ice cold. Lipscomb entered the day averaging 8.2 3-pointers on 25.8 attempts per game (31.8% 3PT) after finishing 12th in the country last season in efficiency (38.0% 3PT) — not great to start the year, but a key part of the team’s identity. They’re expected to find their groove eventually, but it wasn’t going to be inside Rupp Arena, the opposition going just 5-29 from three on the day after starting an abysmal 0-13 in the first 15 minutes of the game. Whether they were heavily contested or wide-stinking-open, the shots just refused to fall, allowing Kentucky to build and extend its lead.

Lipscomb’s Charlie Williams was the only player to hit multiple threes (3-8) while Jacob Ognacevic (1-5) and Gyasi Powell (1-3) added one make apiece to round out the group. Any chance of an upset victory was very quickly killed thanks to the shooting woes.

This is a historic shooting team

Those shooting woes were reserved for Lipscomb and Lipscomb only on Tuesday. Kentucky knocked down 12 3-pointers on 25 makes for a ridiculous clip of 48.0 percent with six different Wildcats hitting shots from deep.

On the surface, it’s just another good shooting day for a good shooting team. But what if I told you it was actually a historic effort? According to Corey Price, it marked the first time in program history a Kentucky team has knocked down at least 10 3-pointers in each of its first four games of a season.

The Wildcats hit 11 in the opener against Wright State, 13 against Bucknell, 10 against Duke and now 12 against Lipscomb.

This is the first @KentuckyMBB team in school history to make at least 10 3-point field goals in each of their first 4 games of a season
— Corey Price (@coreyp08) November 20, 2024

Don’t let Lamont Butler get hot!

Three of those makes came from Butler, who was a perfect 3-3 from deep on the day and 6-8 from the field overall en route to his best scoring performance of the season with 16 points while adding one rebound, one assist, one steal and zero turnovers in 17 minutes.

Butler entered the year shooting just 32.1 percent from three on 2.5 attempts per game — not necessarily a non-shooter, but not a great one either. Pope’s take? “He is an elite-level shooter. I have every expectation he is going to continue shooting it great. He’s a dangerous guy.”

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The fifth-year senior is now up to 4-9 on the year, good for a smooth 44.4 percent. Is that sustainable? Maybe, maybe not. He’s been confidently firing away since he arrived on campus, though, and that’s not slowing down anytime soon.

Koby Brea is the best shooter in college basketball

We’ll see if Butler’s efficiency is sustainable, a somewhat reasonable number. The real question, however, is if Brea can continue knocking them down at an all-time rate the way he has. He started out the year on fire with 10 makes on 12 attempts while averaging 19.0 points in the first two games, then had a ho-hum 2-4 night against Duke to drop his hit rate all the way to 75 percent. To make up for it, the Dayton transfer responded with a 3-3 night against Lipscomb to bring his season average back up to 78.9 percent (15-19 3PT).

Reed Sheppard broke the 3-point shooting record last year with a season average of 52.08 percent on 4.36 attempts per game. Brea has him beat by 26 percent on higher volume through four games.

Brandon Garrison continues to make strides

Garrison hasn’t gotten his first career triple to drop quite yet — although he was an inch off with a foot on the line against Duke — but he’s emerging as a consistent spark plug off the bench in the post. He’s started his time in Lexington with games of six points and four rebounds, six points and five rebounds and eight points and four rebounds while adding ten assists, two blocks and two steals. Tonight? Another eight-point, five-rebound, two-block night for the Cats.

The sophomore forward found mismatches with size and length while also out-hustling the competition all 20 minutes he was on the floor. Amari Williams is the team’s anchor in the frontcourt, but Garrison’s value as an energy piece in that second wave is both high and growing.

Otega Oweh sets the tone for the Cats

Another day, another consistent and productive day for Otega-tron, the Oklahoma transfer adding yet another 14-point effort to the game log for his fourth straight double-figure performance to open his Kentucky career. The craziest part? He only did it on six shots, going 5-6 from the field, 1-1 from three and 3-4 at the line while adding four rebounds, two blocks and one steal in 15 minutes.

Oweh dealt with early foul trouble to limit his time on the floor, but he still made the most of his minutes out there, just as he always does.

Big Blue Nation can make a statement

A sleepy mid-week matchup against mid-major competition? Some programs have to give free tickets away at Planet Fitness or have their head coaches beg fans to show up. Not Kentucky.

BBN proved why it is unmatched among fanbases on Tuesday, filling Rupp Arena from top to bottom for ASUN competition in mid-November. That’s unheard of, but also unsurprising.

Maybe it was a continued celebration of the Duke win, fans getting their first chance to cheer on the Cats at home since pulling off the upset. Or maybe it’s because this team is legit and people want to see them in person.