LIVE BLOG: Kentucky vs. Wright State
Kentucky officially tips the 2024-25 season off vs. Wright State tonight (7 p.m. ET, ESPNU). KSR’s new and improved LIVE BLOG will bring you all the sights and sounds from Mark Pope’s first real game as the Wildcats’ head coach.
The No. 23 Cats cruised through their two exhibitions, beating Kentucky Wesleyan 123-52 and Minnesota State 98-67. Wright State also has a new coach, Clint Sargent. Sargent was an assistant on the Raiders’ staff under Scott Nagy since the 2016-17 season and spent the last three seasons as associate head coach before being promoted to head coach. Wright State returns several members from last year’s squad that went 18-14, including junior forward Brandon Noel, who averaged 14.5 points and 8.0 rebounds last season and was tabbed as Horizon League Player of the Year.
Refresh the feed below for updates and our takes on the game, from both Rupp Arena and the couch. You can also join the conversation on the KSBoard Game Thread or by texting your observations to 859-587-3828 (standard messaging rates apply).
Pope shares what first win as Kentucky’s coach means
11/4/2024, 8:11:11 PMPope talked to Tom Hart and Jimmy Dykes after the game about what his first win as Kentucky’s coach means. As you can imagine, it’s an emotional one.
“It’s been — come on. I’m not going to start crying right now but we have these experiences in our lives that change us forever. They change what our insiders are and you get to do that with people, right? So here I am in a place that changed me forever with all the people that we got to go through that experience together…there’s nothing like it. We talked about this the other night. Walking into Rupp is like walking into your house, it’s just that 22,000 people are there and it’s a brilliant thing and it means everything to me. We’re excited about trying to represent this program and this state in an epic way.”
Kentucky celebrates Mark Pope’s first win as head coach
11/4/2024, 8:05:39 PMAfter the final horn sounded on the 103-62 win over Wright State, Mitch Barnhart presented Mark Pope with a commemorative bourbon barrel top. His players also gathered around him, dancing and cheering.
FINAL: Kentucky 103, Wright State 62
11/4/2024, 7:58:15 PMHard to ask for a better debut than that. Kentucky beats Wright State by 41 points, 103-62, to start Mark Pope’s first season. The Cats shot 60% from the floor and 45.8% from three. Five Kentucky players finished in double figures, led by Otega Oweh with 21. Amari Williams had a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Kentucky had 30 assists to just 7 turnovers and totaled 11 steals.
Lots to love in this box score. Come and get it.
Walker Horn gets in on the fun!
11/4/2024, 7:55:09 PMIn a sign of how tonight’s going, Walker Horn has checked in. Cats lead 103-62 with less than a minute to go.
Trent Noah and Travis Perry are checking in
11/4/2024, 7:46:19 PMThe eRupption Zone’s chants of “We Want Noah” have been answered. Freshmen Trent Noah and Travis Perry are checking in at the 3:30 mark. Cats lead 97-57, or, as John Short and Tom Hart would say, 40 bigguns.
By the way, this move by Lamont Butler was fantastic.
We are all obsessed with the Kerr Kriisa-Koby Brea connection
11/4/2024, 7:44:02 PMI could watch this on repeat all night. Based on social media, you all could too.
We’ve got some flirtation on the Dance Cam
11/4/2024, 7:40:45 PMAlso, Rupp Arena is feeling so good we may have a potential love connection.
7:04 2nd Half: Kentucky 88, Wright State 47
11/4/2024, 8:38:45 PMWith seven minutes to go in the game, the Wildcats have officially gone up 40 as a 20-point favorite inside Rupp Arena.
Koby Brea and Otega Oweh have gone nuclear from three, combining for 35 points on 7-7 overall while Lamont Butler, Andrew Carr and Amari Williams have added 11 points apiece.
Kentucky is shooting 61.1 percent overall, 55 percent from three and 73.3 percent at the line.
KOBY BREA JUST PULLED A STEPH CURRY
11/4/2024, 8:32:42 PMDID YOU GUYS JUST SEE WHAT KOBY BREA DID? With his fourth 3-point attempt still up in the air, the sharpshooting guard spun around to face the crowd as the ball fell through the net.
I’ve never seen that before in real time. But hey, when you have a coin-flip shooter like Brea on your time, you should probably expect the unexpected.
Goodness gracious, that was nasty.
Amari Williams records his first double-double as a Cat
11/4/2024, 8:27:09 PMAs fun as the playmaking has been for the Drexel transfer (minus the turnovers, obviously), he’s sticking to the script as a double-double machine, recording his first in blue and white.
Williams has racked up 11 points and 11 rebounds while adding three assists and a steal in just 17 minutes. He’s been a bit erratic with the ball, but the flashes are brilliant, and he’s done more than enough to question how on Earth he was in the CAA four seasons before someone came and grabbed him out of the portal?
We’ll happily take his decision.
11:52 2nd Half: Kentucky 71, Wright State 33
11/4/2024, 7:23:21 PMDoes the Rule of 71 apply in the Mark Pope era? If so, the Cats are safe, passing it with well over 10 minutes to play, leading Wright State by 38. Ansley Almonor just hit his first three, one of five Cats to score behind the arc thus far. Koby Brea hit another one too. He’s 3 of 3 from three thus far.
The eRupption Zone has newspapers
11/4/2024, 7:18:12 PMRemember the Pope who came to this morning’s radio show? He’s in the eRupption Zone, sporting his costume. Students were given newspapers to hold up too, “The Wildcat Daily”:
How about an Otega Oweh three?
11/4/2024, 7:13:37 PMOtega Oweh just pushed Kentucky’s lead to 33 with this contested three. He has 14 points, one of three Cats in double figures (Andrew Carr and Amari Williams both have 11). I also like his pigtails.
17:00 2nd Half: Kentucky 58, Wright State 28
11/4/2024, 7:08:12 PMKentucky’s lead has ballooned to 30 thanks to a 12-2 run over the last 2:34. Andrew Carr just hit his first three after missing one and Amari Williams is still playing incredibly well, throwing down this dunk:
Myron Medcalf likes what he sees so far
11/4/2024, 7:07:07 PMThe creator of KSR’s Merry Mondays and Matt’s ESPN Radio cohost is watching and liked what he saw from the Cats in the first half.
Who needs 3s?
11/4/2024, 8:00:13 PMKentucky is a respectable 4-9 from deep at the break, but how about the interior presence through the first half? 12-15 on dunks and layups with 28 points in the paint. And that’s including a handful of failed backdoor cut attempts, which I expect them to connect on more as the season goes along. Pope’s offense is taking advantage of what the defense is giving them and that’s exactly what I want to see. Find the open space and attack. It’s working nicely so far. But also, I’d still like to see some more threes…
Amari Williams is playing and playing well
11/4/2024, 7:57:35 PMIt is good to see Amari Williams at full speed after suffering a scare with a lower leg injury in the final preseason exhibition game last week. Williams was a game-time decision, so it was a relief to see him on the floor at all. Even better, Williams was awesome in the first half, tallying eight points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field and nine rebounds, a near double-double in 12 minutes. He turned it over three times, trying to make the flashy assists, but still added three assists to his halftime stat line. He has been outstanding so far in his Kentucky debut.
HALF: Kentucky 46, Wright State 24
11/4/2024, 7:44:29 PMAfter 20 minutes of play, Kentucky leads Wright State by 22. That’s the jersey number of Amari Williams, who, as Jack Pilgrim just said, is playing like a best so far. He has eight points and nine rebounds, officially on double-double watch. Eight is a popular number. Otega Oweh, Jaxson Robinson, Andrew Carr, and Koby Brea also have eight points a piece.
The Cats are shooting 58% (18-31) from the floor and 44% (4-9) from three. So far, 14 assists to 5 turnovers. Not too shabby. Check out the complete box score below.
Amari Williams is a game-wrecking talent for Kentucky
11/4/2024, 7:36:01 PMWe are very quickly seeing why Mark Pope dropped everything to sign the Drexel transfer out of the portal as soon as he got the job. If there are any passing bigs better than Williams in college basketball, I’d love to hear some names. His court vision is two, three or four steps ahead of the defense (and sometimes his teammates, as seen by his lone turnover looking to hit Koby Brea on the cut while the sharpshooter stayed in the corner). Then you factor in his size, athleticism and rebounding and it’s hard not to love everything he brings to the floor.
He’s been game MVP early on for the Cats, racking up six points (3-3 FG), seven rebounds and three assists in 10 minutes.
Jaxson Robinson is heating up…
11/4/2024, 7:33:04 PMOh, the value in having a guy who can do this for you…
Robinson is up to eight points on 3-5 shooting and 2-4 from three to go with three rebounds, two assists and a block. The former Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year has been Kentucky’s leading scorer through two exhibition games and it doesn’t appear that he’s slowing down anytime soon.
The Text Machine likes what it sees
11/4/2024, 6:29:59 PMYou all are catching on to the text machine. We have some texts running in, and not just from Fake Barney.
7:19 1st Half: Kentucky 29, Wright State 16
11/4/2024, 6:26:48 PMThe Cats lead by 13 thanks in part to Koby Brea, who has a team-high eight points off the bench so far.
Tom Hart rode with Mark Pope to Rupp Arena
11/4/2024, 6:22:28 PMTom Hart rode with Mark Pope from the Joe Craft Center to Rupp Arena for a segment we’re about to see on the broadcast. Hart said Pope told him that one of the earliest lessons he learned when he transferred to Kentucky from Washington was that the Rupp Arena crowd can fuel runs.
“Rupp Arena is special,” Hart recalled Pope saying. “We’re going to go on runs and we’re going to lay the hammer down on opponents.”
So far, the Cats are doing just that. As Dickie V would say, they’ve got spurtability.
10:23 1st Half: Kentucky 25, Wright State 11
11/4/2024, 6:19:59 PMCats are on an 8-0 run over the last 2:22, shooting 10-16 from the floor and 3-6 from three. Already eight assists, three by Amari Williams. A seven-footer who can run, shoot, and pass? Goodness.
Koby Brea hits back-to-back threes
11/4/2024, 6:15:59 PMBrea didn’t take long to make an impact, swishing a wide-open three, his first shot attempt (and make) as a Wildcat. He quickly followed it up with another one to make it 25-11 Kentucky with 11:11 left. You can’t leave him open!
First Subs: Brea and Garrison
11/4/2024, 6:11:11 PMIf you predicted that Koby Brea and Brandon Garrison would be the first players off the bench, you would be correct. They’re checking in for Otega Oweh and Amari Williams coming out of the media timeout.
14:44 1st Half: Kentucky 15, Wright State 8
11/4/2024, 6:20:08 PMKentucky is off to a hot start so far, leading Wright State 15-8 at the first media timeout. This team may have been hyped for its three-point shooting ability but the twos have been impressive as well. We’ve had back-to-back dunks by Otega Oweh and Amari Williams, two sweet drives by Lamont Butler, and a three by Jaxson Robinson that brought the Rupp Arena crowd to its feet. The Cats have hit six of their first nine shots.
Here’s that dunk by Oweh. I yelled from my couch.
“Big Blue Nation, here come your Cats”
11/4/2024, 6:55:09 PMAfter a lovely national anthem by Samantha Goette and a light dance routine by Lamont Butler and Koby Brea in the hallway, Kentucky took the floor for Game 1 to “Big Blue Nation, here come your Cats!” Here’s a shot of the crowd as the team entered for anyone missing Jerry Tipton’s pregame photos.
Kentucky’s Starting Lineup
11/4/2024, 5:51:16 PMThe first starting lineup of the 2024-25 season:
No. 1 Lamont Butler
No. 00 Otega Oweh
No. 2 Jaxson Robinson
No. 7 Andrew Carr
No. 22 Amari Williams
Final Odds
11/4/2024, 5:44:05 PMKentucky will close as a 20.5-point favorite, with the total set at 160.5 points. Kentucky’s total is currently 91.5 points. I’ll take the over on that, thank you very much.
“There’s nothing quite like it”
11/4/2024, 6:25:51 PMMark Pope caught up with Tom Leach ahead of his first official game as Kentucky head coach. Almost exactly 30 years ago he made his debut as a Wildcat player. “It’s the most special thing you get to do in basketball. There’s nothing quite like it.”
Amari Williams expected to play vs. Wright State
11/4/2024, 6:20:34 PMHow about some breaking news to get this live blog rolling? Amari Williams, who went down with a leg injury vs. Minnesota State and was described as day-to-day by Mark Pope, is expected to play in Kentucky’s opener vs. Wright State, sources tell KSR.
Williams was full-go in pregame warmups and is in full uniform with tip-off less than an hour away. Massive news to get the Drexel transfer back in the lineup after the injury scare last week.
How to Watch, Listen
11/4/2024, 6:00:49 PMTonight’s a Tom Hart game! Hopefully, that means we will get some KSR nuggets. Here’s how you can watch or listen live. Of course, we’ll have score updates and highlights for you here too. Zack Geoghegan and Jack Pilgrim shared the scene outside an hour before tipoff in our Pregame Walk video series (we’re still workshopping the name).
Television: ESPNU (Tom Hart and Jimmy Dykes)
Streaming: WatchESPN
Home Radio: UK Sports Network – 630 WLAP, iHeart Radio (Tom Leach, Goose Givens)
Online Radio: iHeart
Satellite Radio: Sirius 383
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
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