Kentucky makes quick work of Bucknell in 100-72 victory

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky didn’t waste much time putting the second game of its season out of reach Saturday.

The No. 23-ranked Wildcats used a series of early runs to jump out to a big lead, ultimately defeating Bucknell, 100-72, in Rupp Arena for the second victory of the Mark Pope era. It was UK’s final tuneup before its date with No. 7 Duke on Tuesday night in the Champions Classic.

Five days after beating Wright State by 41 points in the regular-season opener, the Cats managed separate runs of 9-0, 8-0 and 9-0 — all before the under-8 TV timeout of the first half — and claimed their first 20-point lead of the game at the end of that final flurry.

By the time Jaxson Robinson scored on back-to-back layups to cap the second 9-0 run, Kentucky was up 31-11 on Bucknell, and the Cats controlled the game from there.

Koby Brea went 6 for 8 from 3-point range and scored 20 points for the Wildcats, who also got 14 points from Robinson, plus 11 points from Andrew Carr and 10 points from Otega Oweh.

Kerr Kriisa tied a career high with 12 assists, committing two turnovers in 21 minutes on the court. Amari Williams tallied his second consecutive double-double with 13 points and 14 rebounds.

A big reason for UK’s early success Saturday came on the boards.

After Pope lamented his team’s rebounding results earlier in the week — the head coach has said that this could be an “elite-level rebounding team” — the Cats dominated the glass from the get-go against Bucknell, grabbing eight of the first nine rebounds of the game.

UK ended up with 22 offensive rebounds and beat the Bison 57-35 overall on the boards. The Cats had a 32-14 halftime advantage in rebounding.

Meanwhile, Bucknell — less than 48 hours removed from an overtime win at Southern Indiana — missed nine of its first 11 shots from the field. The Bison trailed by double digits for the final 33:38 of the game.

On the first sequence of the second half, Kentucky forced a shot-clock violation on one end, then Williams grabbed an offensive rebound on the other, the second chance eventually leading to an and-one finish from Carr, who put the Cats up 50-31 with that play.

After the Bison narrowed the difference to 14 points shortly after that, Brea and Kriisa nailed back-to-back 3-pointers to put the Cats up 20 again. UK led by as many as 29 points.

Pope stuck to his 10-man rotation in game two, with Lamont Butler, Oweh, Robinson, Carr and Williams sticking in the starting lineup. Before the second TV timeout of both halves, Kriisa, Brea, Collin Chandler, Ansley Almonor and Brandon Garrison had all entered the game. Trent Noah checked in for the first time with the Cats up 25 and 4:17 remaining, and Travis Perry made his first appearance with 3:11 left.

Bucknell was 2-0 to start the season — with wins at Delaware and Southern Indiana earlier in the week — but the Bison came into Rupp Arena as 28.5-point underdogs for their third game in six days. It was the first meeting between Kentucky and Bucknell.

The competition for the Cats will get a lot tougher a few days from now.

The Wildcats’ next game

The first marquee matchup of the Pope era is next up on the 2024-25 UK basketball schedule, with the Wildcats traveling to Atlanta to face No. 7-ranked Duke in the latest edition of the Champions Classic on Tuesday night.

The Blue Devils are led by Cooper Flagg — the presumptive No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA draft — along with fellow freshmen and projected lottery picks Kon Knueppel and Khaman Maluach, plus several other players expected to be drafted next year. Duke has started the season with a 34-point victory over Maine and a 42-point win over Army.

The UK-Duke game will be on ESPN, with tipoff expected around 9 p.m.