LEXINGTON, Ky. — With Kentucky’s stars still sidelined to begin the 2022-23 college basketball season, a few other Wildcats got a chance at the spotlight.
UK started its regular season without three key players — national player of the year Oscar Tshiebwe, all-league point guard Sahvir Wheeler and sophomore forward Daimion Collins — but it didn’t impact the final outcome Monday night. The Cats defeated Howard University, 95-63, in Rupp Arena with just eight available scholarship players.
Things started a bit clunky for the short-handed Wildcats. It took nearly six minutes for someone other than freshman Cason Wallace to make a basket, and UK had just 13 points at the under-12 TV timeout in the first half. Not long after that, the rout was on.
A 23-16 Kentucky lead out of the under-8 timeout grew to a 49-26 advantage by halftime, a 26-10 flurry that featured points from seven different Kentucky players.
In the end, Antonio Reeves led the Cats with 22 points, going 6-for-12 from three-point range. CJ Fredrick added 20 points in his first game as a Wildcat.
Jacob Toppin recorded a double-double — the first of his college career — by the midway point of the second half, finishing with 15 points and 11 rebounds. And Wallace flirted with a triple-double for the Cats, ending his first college game with 15 points, eight rebounds and nine assists while running the point guard spot in place of Wheeler.
John Calipari spent a good portion of his pregame radio interview Monday night highlighting two topics, seemingly preparing listeners for a possible letdown in the season opener: Kentucky would have just eight scholarship players, and Howard would be a tough opponent. The Bison finished second in the MEAC last season and were picked third in the league poll this preseason, bolstered by the return of all-conference players Elijah Hawkins and Steve Settle III.
Howard stayed competitive with Kentucky during the opening minutes, but — once the Cats found their footing — it wasn’t much of a contest. The Bison shot just 27.8 percent in the first half and missed 11 of their first 12 three-point attempts.
UK’s lead reached 30 points before the first TV timeout of the second half.
