Kentucky basketball digs out of double-digit hole to beat lowly rated Texas A&M-Commerce

The final result was the expected one, but Kentucky took its time getting there Friday night.

The Wildcats defeated Texas A&M-Commerce 81-61 in game two of this young college basketball season, a final tuneup in Rupp Arena before UK heads to Chicago to take on No. 1-ranked Kansas next week.

The Cats got off to a poor start in this one.

Texas A&M-Commerce put Kentucky in an 8-0 hole early. UK missed eight of its first 11 shot attempts — and its first five 3-pointers — while the Lions were scorching hot, going 7-for-10 from the field and hitting 5 of 8 3-pointers over that same early stretch.

The visitors had two separate 13-point leads in the first eight minutes of the game, leaving the Rupp crowd a little antsy four days after the Cats’ 40-point blowout of New Mexico State in Monday night’s opener. UK got off to a slow start that night, too.

It took the Wildcats even longer to get going Friday, but they got there.

After that initial flurry, the Lions went cold, missing 14 of their next 17 shots. Kentucky, meanwhile, made 8 of 11 over the same span.

Freshman guard D.J. Wagner finally gave Kentucky its first lead on a layup with 7:41 left in the half. UK’s final three buckets leading up to halftime were all 3-pointers courtesy of senior guard Antonio Reeves, who put the Cats ahead 38-30 at the break with the last one.

Texas A&M-Commerce hung around early in the second half, but the Lions never really threatened again.

Kentucky led by double digits for the final 16 minutes of the game, with Justin Edwards throwing down some highlight-reel dunks, fellow freshman Rob Dillingham showing off some of his flashy moves, and Reeves and Tre Mitchell — the only upperclassmen among UK’s scholarship players — providing a steadying presence.

Reeves led the way with 21 points, going 5-for-8 from 3-point range. He also had six rebounds. Mitchell added 18 points, eight rebounds and three steals. Edwards led the freshmen with 16 points and seven rebounds, while Dillingham scored 12 points with four assists, and Wagner chipped in with 11 points and three assists.

With Adou Thiero sidelined, Calipari used a seven-player rotation with freshmen Reed Sheppard and Jordan Burks coming off the bench. Sheppard hit a late 3 for his only points, though he added three steals and two blocks. All but Burks, who didn’t score, played at least 29 minutes.

Texas A&M Commerce (0-3) is beginning year two of its transition to the Division I level and came into the day at No. 303 in the KenPom ratings.

The Lions lost to Texas A&M (78-46) on Monday night and Texas Tech (73-46) on Wednesday night before coming into Lexington on Friday to complete a brutal stretch of three games in five days. Texas A&M-Commerce head coach Jaret von Rosenberg said in the preseason that the team’s approach would be to play with a quick pace and bomb 3-pointers — he wanted the Lions to attempt 120 across those three games — in hopes of getting hot one night and being able to pull an upset.

A&M Commerce was just 9-for-63 from 3-point range over its first two games. The Lions shot 10-for-27 from deep Friday night.

UK basketball injury update

Sophomore guard Adou Thiero did not play Friday night. UK announced before the game that he would be held out due to concussion protocol.

Thiero, who started UK’s season opener and both of the team’s exhibition games, subbed himself out after a collision with 12:35 left in Kentucky’s win over New Mexico State on Monday night and did not return. John Calipari said after the season opener that he was complaining of a headache and would be considered day-to-day moving forward.

Calipari said during his pregame radio interview that Thiero has been feeling “fine” this week and implied that his absence was precautionary. UK play-by-play announcer Tom Leach said at the end of that segment that Thiero, who was sitting on the bench for Friday’s game, should be back for the matchup with No. 1 Kansas on Tuesday.

▪ UK freshman Zvonimir Ivisic went through the full pregame routine for the first time with his teammates Friday night, though he did not participate in the UK layup line just before tipoff. Ivisic has not yet been cleared to play by the NCAA, which is continuing to review his eligibility. There is no timetable for that process to be complete.

▪ Injured Kentucky centers Aaron Bradshaw and Ugonna Onyenso were on the court with teammates before Friday’s game, but they did nothing basketball related other than putting up a few shots.

Kentucky’s next game

Next up for the Wildcats is one of the biggest games — arguably the biggest — on the 2023-24 schedule.

UK will play No. 1-ranked Kansas on Tuesday night at United Center in Chicago, this year’s home of the Champions Classic. The game is set for a 9:30 p.m. tipoff on ESPN.

UK began the season seven wins ahead of Kansas on college basketball’s all-time list after the Jayhawks were forced to vacate 15 victories as a result of a recent NCAA rules investigation.

Kansas received 46 of 63 first-place votes in the first Associated Press Top 25 poll, and the Jayhawks defeated North Carolina Central 99-56 in the season opener. Kansas played Manhattan on Friday night.

KU is led by preseason All-American Hunter Dickinson — a 7-2 center and the most coveted transfer in America this past offseason — as well as returning starters K.J. Adams Jr., Dajuan Harris Jr., and Kevin McCullar Jr., all key players on a Jayhawks’ team that earned a 1 seed in last season’s NCAA Tournament.

Kentucky leads the all-time series with Kansas 24-11, and John Calipari and Bill Self have evenly split 10 meetings since Calipari became UK’s head coach in 2009. UK has a 5-7 overall record in the Champions Classic, losing three consecutive games and five of its past six in the event.

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Box score from Kentucky basketball’s 81-61 victory over Texas A&M-Commerce

Shot chart from Kentucky basketball’s 81-61 win over Texas A&M-Commerce

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