Basketball in Lexington, Kentucky, looks a lot different right now than the “Big Blue Nation” has grown accustomed to.
No. 8 Kentucky has a brand new roster, led by a brand new coach. Six games in, it hasn’t seemed to matter at all.
The Wildcats have are off to a 6-0 start ahead of Friday’s home meeting with Georgia State. Under first-year head coach Mark Pope and an entirely revamped team, Kentucky is off to its best start since the 2016-17 season, when it won its first nine contests.
Last time out, the Wildcats pulled away from Western Kentucky, earning an 87-68 home win on Tuesday. Otega Oweh and Andrew Carr, transfers from Oklahoma and Wake Forest, respectively, led Kentucky with 18 points apiece in the victory. The Wildcats shot just 40.3 percent from the field, but attempted 42 free throws, making 29 of them.
For Pope, it’s important for his team to learn how to win defensive battles.
“We weren’t functioning great on offense, but we were finding joy on the defensive side of the ball,” Pope said. “That is a winning formula. We’re going to have games that we have to win on defense. If we can really find joy there, and keep going back to that well over and over, we have a chance to win a lot of games.”
Kentucky’s 95.3 points per game rank second in the nation through Wednesday’s play. The Wildcats are led by Oweh’s 16.5 points per contest, followed by Dayton transfer Koby Brea’s 14.8. Former San Diego State star Lamont Butler adds 11.7 ppg, while Carr and BYU transfer Jaxson Robinson add 10.8 each.
“It’s fun to know we can win games in different ways,” Pope added. “That’s really important. It bodes well for our guys and our team.”
Georgia State enters play on the heels of Wednesday’s 74-71 win over Tulsa in the Jacksonville Classic. After falling to Austin Peay on Tuesday, the Panthers (4-3) salvaged their trip to Florida as Zarique Nutter converted a three-point play with two seconds left to ice the win.
Nutter leads Georgia State with 17.2 points per game, and paced the Panthers with 22 on Wednesday, none more important than his final three.
“We were just trying to put the ball in his hands,” Georgia State head coach Jonas Hayes said. “We were going to run a high ball screen and allow him to operate and make decisions. … We tried to play with a lot of poise and we were able to do that on a neutral court. I thought we had enough togetherness to withstand runs (Tulsa) went on. We were able to respond and escape with the win.”
Hayes’ group will prepare on short rest for its toughest test of the season at Kentucky. It’s their second of three matchups against Southeastern Conference teams, as the Panthers fell 101-66 at Mississippi State on Nov. 8, and will travel to No. 4 Auburn on Dec. 17.
Following Nutter, Toneari Lane adds 15.3 points per game, while Cesare Edwards chips in 11.
