This Kentucky basketball team has lofty aspirations.
A victory over the No. 1 team in the country — before the season even begins — is quite a way to tip things off.
The No. 9 Wildcats defeated the top-ranked Purdue Boilermakers 78-65 in Rupp Arena on Friday night in the exhibition opener for a pair of teams with realistic NCAA title hopes.
Purdue, which received 35 of a possible 61 first-place votes in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 poll last week, had its full complement of starters on the court in Lexington, a group led by national player of the year frontrunner Braden Smith and All-America candidate Trey Kaufman-Renn.
Kentucky had its fair share of potential stars, too — led by SEC preseason player of the year Otega Oweh — but the Cats’ lineup was missing starting point guard Jaland Lowe and projected NBA lottery pick Jayden Quaintance, both sidelined with injuries.
In front of the home crowd — and in their first taste of outside competition — that didn’t matter to the Cats, who took their first lead less than two minutes into the contest and never trailed again.
Freshman guard Jasper Johnson was 3 for 7 on 3-pointers and led the Wildcats with 15 points. He was joined in double figures by Oweh and Trent Noah, who tallied 10 points apiece. Mouhamed Dioubate grabbed a team-high nine rebounds, while Denzel Aberdeen, Collin Chandler and Johnson dished out three assists each.
Kentucky led by as many as 10 points on three separate occasions in the first half. Their first double-digit lead came on a stepback jumper from Johnson — his foot on the 3-point line — to cap a 7-0 run and give the Cats a 31-21 advantage.
A couple of minutes later, Johnson connected on a 3-pointer to put UK up 36-26, and the Cats’ next basket belonged to fellow freshman Malachi Moreno — like Johnson, a central Kentucky native — who slammed home a dunk in transition for a 38-28 lead.
Purdue narrowed UK’s lead to three points early in the second half, but Trent Noah answered immediately with a 3-pointer to kick off another 7-0 Kentucky run. That flurry ended with Johnson hitting Moreno for a dunk out of a pick and roll to put the Cats up by double digits again, and the Boilermakers were never back within striking distance.
UK’s lead ballooned to as many as 17 points later in the second half.
Kentucky didn’t shoot the ball particularly well from deep — 9-for-29 on 3-point attempts — but it outscored Purdue in the paint 36-26 and outrebounded the Boilermakers 42-30. The Cats outscored Purdue 14-4 on second-chance points. They also held the Boilermakers to just 38.6% shooting from the floor. Purdue was just 3 for 17 from 3-point range.
Smith, the Boilermakers’ point guard and a unanimous first-team preseason All-American selection, finished with 11 points and five assists. Kaufman-Renn led Purdue with 19 points.
Kentucky has not lost an exhibition game since Aug. 17, 2014, when the 2014-15 squad was defeated by the Dominican Republic national team during a series of offseason games in the Bahamas. That UK team ended up with a 38-1 record, its lone loss coming in the Final Four.
The Wildcats’ last defeat in a preseason exhibition game came on Nov. 18, 2002, when UK fell to Team Nike in Rupp Arena. Those Cats ultimately entered the NCAA Tournament as the top team in the bracket, falling in the Elite Eight and finishing with a 32-4 record.
Kentucky Wildcats guard Jasper Johnson (2) drives the ball as Purdue Boilermakers guard Gicarri Harris (24) follows during an exhibition game at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky., on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025. Ryan C. Hermens [email protected]
Trent Noah in Kentucky starting lineup
With Jaland Lowe, who will be the team’s regular starting point guard, sidelined with a shoulder injury, Pope had to go with a makeshift first five in UK’s first game against outside competition.
Pope’s starting lineup Friday night consisted of Denzel Aberdeen, Otega Oweh, Trent Noah, Mouhamed Dioubate and Brandon Garrison.
Lowe was on the Rupp Arena court nearly two hours before tipoff. He didn’t do much of anything basketball related, though the junior point guard did dribble around with both hands and grab some rebounds for teammates during initial warmups.
He injured his right (non-shooting) shoulder during the team’s Blue-White scrimmage last week. Pope said Thursday that he would keep him out of full-contact situations for at least one more week, but Lowe has not been ruled out for the regular-season opener against Nicholls on Nov. 4.
Aberdeen, Oweh, Dioubate and Garrison were already expected to be in UK’s starting five, and Noah got the other spot for the Purdue game.
Junior center Reece Potter joined Lowe and Jayden Quaintance, who’s recovering from knee surgery, on the sidelines Friday night. Potter missed the game with an illness, according to a team spokesperson.
When is the next UK basketball game?
Kentucky returns to the court Thursday night for its final exhibition game of the 2025 preseason against the Georgetown Hoyas, who have never played against the Wildcats in Rupp Arena.
The Cats and the Hoyas have met only twice before. The most recent matchup came during the 1984 Final Four — a 53-40 victory for Georgetown — and the only other meeting took place during the 1921-22 season in Washington, D.C. The Hoyas won that game 28-23.
Georgetown is in its second season under head coach Ed Cooley and has been picked to finish sixth in the Big East this season. The Hoyas were not included in the most recent version of ESPN’s preseason Bracketology, and they’re No. 82 nationally in the early KenPom ratings.
Last weekend, Georgetown defeated George Washington 73-64 in its first exhibition game.
This story was originally published October 24, 2025 at 7:52 PM.
Ben Roberts
Lexington Herald-Leader
Ben Roberts is the University of Kentucky men’s basketball beat writer for the Lexington Herald-Leader. He has previously specialized in UK basketball recruiting coverage and created and maintained the Next Cats blog. He is a Franklin County native and first joined the Herald-Leader in 2006.
Support my work with a digital subscription
