LEXINGTON, Ky. – Otega Oweh scored 21 points, Koby Brea added 18 off the bench and No. 23 Kentucky shot 60% to beat Wright State 103-62 in Mark Pope’s Wildcat debut Monday night.

Pope replaced John Calipari in April after the Hall of Famer left for Arkansas and revamped the roster with nine transfers. Oweh, a transfer from Oklahoma, shot 8-for-9 from the floor and hit all three shots from distance.

Brea made all four of his 3-point shots for Kentucky, which shot 11 of 24 from behind the arc.

Lamont Butler shot 6 of 12 for 14 points, while Amari Williams, who left Kentucky’s last exhibition game with an injury, scored 12 points and grabbed 13 rebounds.

Andrew Carr and Ansley Almonor had 11 each for the Wildcats.

Brandon Noel had 20 points, Alex Huibregtse 16 and Solomon Callaghan added 15 for the Raiders, who shot just 35% from the field.

Takeaways

Wright State: The Raiders’ only consistent offensive performance came when they strung together four consecutive baskets in the second half. Wright State had to work for opportunities against a Kentucky defense that challenged everything.

Kentucky: The Wildcats were quick on both ends of the court, attacking the glass defensively and distributing the ball at the other end. The Wildcats owned the boards 41-32 and outscored the Raiders 56-26 in the paint and 37-21 in bench points.

Key moment

Pope entered Rupp Arena in front of 19,635 spectators spread out throughout the arena he once called home.

Key statistics

30 – Kentucky’s assists on 39 baskets.

Next

Wright State hosts Ohio Christian on Wednesday night, while Kentucky hosts Bucknell on Saturday before facing Duke in the Champions Classic.

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