Kentucky Basketball Rains 12 Threes in 85-57 Opening Rout of Manhattan

Kentucky basketball opened the season by letting it fly, and the shots fell.

No. 23 Kentucky beat Manhattan 85-57 on Tuesday night at Rupp Arena in front of 19,304, and the 3-point line did most of the damage. The Wildcats made 12 of 31 threes (39 percent) while holding the Jaspers to 7 of 26 (27 percent). That 15-point edge from deep was more than half of the final margin.

Milan Momcilovic was the reason. The newcomer scored a game-high 24 points on 8-of-12 shooting and went 6 of 9 from three. According to UK's postgame notes, the six threes tied Antonio Reeves for the most by a Wildcat in a debut and the most in a season opener. He added five rebounds and did not turn it over in 29 minutes.

Alex Wilkins gave Kentucky a second threat from outside, hitting 3 of 6 threes on his way to 11 points. He also had five assists and seven steals, the most ever by a Kentucky player in his debut, breaking Rajon Rondo's mark of five. Zoom Diallo scored 12 and hit a three, Justin McBride made 1 of 5 from deep and Mason Williams hit his only attempt.

Manhattan held the early lead, by as many as five, before Kentucky took over. The Wildcats led 48 to 22 at halftime, and the lead peaked at 39.

The work inside backed up the shooting. Kentucky shot 53 percent overall (32 of 60), outrebounded Manhattan 40 to 26 and outscored the Jaspers 30 to 18 in the paint and 19 to 7 on the fast break. Malachi Moreno had eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds, five of them on the offensive glass. Braydon Hawthorne and Franck Kepnang added eight points each, with Kepnang going 3 for 3.

The ball moved, too. Kentucky had 20 assists on 32 baskets, led by five apiece from Wilkins and Williams, and four from Hawthorne. The Wildcats scored 18 points off Manhattan's 13 turnovers and made 9 of 11 free throws.

There is still plenty to clean up. Kentucky turned it over 14 times, one more than Manhattan, and picked up 19 fouls. Diallo had four turnovers, and Wilkins, Williams and Moreno each finished with four fouls. Manhattan also grabbed 12 offensive rebounds on its 35 missed shots.

For Manhattan, Novak Manojlovic and Kevin Kearney scored 11 each. The Jaspers shot 35 percent from the field and 12 of 23 at the line.

What's next: Kentucky (1-0) hosts James Madison on Friday at 7 PM ET on SEC Network. Then the Wildcats face Kansas in the Champions Classic at Chicago's United Center next Tuesday night on ESPN. That will be the first real test of whether this shooting is for real.

Sources: ESPN box score · UK postgame notes via Nation of Blue · On3/KSR