4 different Wildcats have led Kentucky in scoring through first 4 games

Kentucky players are sharing the love early into Mark Pope‘s tenure as head coach. Through the first four games of the season — all wins — we’ve seen four different Wildcats finish as the team’s leading scorer. One of them even came off the bench.

• Nov. 4 vs. Wright State (103-62 W) | Otega Oweh: 21 points on 8-9 FG, 3-3 3PT, 2-2 FT
• Nov. 9 vs. Bucknell (100-72 W) | Koby Brea: 20 points on 7-11 FG, 6-8 3PT
• Nov. 12 vs. Duke (77-72 W) | Andrew Carr: 17 points on 5-8 FG, 2-3 3PT, 5-6 FT
• Nov. 19 vs. Lipscomb (97-68 W) | Jaxson Robinson: 20 points on 6-10 FG, 3-6 3PT, 5-5 FT

None of these performances came when expected, either.

Oweh was one of the least talked about players throughout the entire offseason, but opened the season hot and hasn’t slowed down since. Brea came off the bench to reach his 20-point mark against Bucknell. He’s reached double-figures in three games (the fourth scoring just eight points) off the pine this season. Carr stepped up down the stretch of a primetime matchup when Kentucky desperately needed his scoring. Robinson was a week removed from a one-point game against Duke before finding his groove against Lipscomb on Tuesday night.

Coming into the season, many expected Robinson to establish himself as Kentucky’s go-to leading scorer (and understandably so). After all, he’s the only player on the roster with experience playing under Pope and was scoring over 14 points per game last season in the Big 12. But Pope has built this team to ensure that he doesn’t have to rely on Robinson each and every game. Kentucky scores by committee.

All four of Oweh, Brea, Carr, and Robinson are averaging double-digits this season. But so are Lamont Butler (11.3 PPG) and Amari Williams (11 PPG), they just haven’t led the team in scoring yet. Ansley Almonor has finished with games of 10 points and nine points while Brandon Garrison has two games with eight points. There will be games this season where Butler, Williams, Almonor, or Garrison lead the team in scoring. Pope has a lot of talented depth pieces to work with.

“It doesn’t always have to be you’re the leading scorer of the team, you don’t get all the publicity, you’re not plastered all over social media. But that’s what makes this team different. That’s what makes us Kentucky,” Robinson said after leading the ‘Cats in scoring on Tuesday night. “We feel like, as long as we’re all together, it doesn’t matter who shines. We just want to go out and win a championship. That’s been our main focus all season.”

With a mindset like that, it won’t shock you to hear that Kentucky ranks 16th in the nation in assists per game at 20, according to Sports-Reference — and that’s after recording a season-low 10 helpers against Lispcomb. This veteran-led roster hasn’t needed much time to establish roles and build chemistry. The results have been a well-balanced offensive approach.

“We’re just connected. I don’t know. It’s just a little different than anywhere else I’ve been,” Robinson said. “The success we’ve had this early in the season, I’m not surprised at all.”

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