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SportsWednesday, November 4

No. 23 Kentucky men's basketball opens the season with an 85-57 win over Manhattan

The 5AM Nicholasville teamFrom today’s edition · 1 min read · 3 sources

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Slow starts? Not for long. Kentucky opened 2026-27 with an 85-57 win over Manhattan on Tuesday at , even after the Jaspers led 9-4 early. The Cats later went on a 13-0 run and led 48-22 at halftime.

Kentucky beat Manhattan by 28 points in the opener

  • Manhattan57
    Kentucky85
    FinalThe No. 23 Wildcats opened the 2026-27 season at Rupp Arena.

Sources: Kentucky Kernel, WKYT

It was the program's fifth straight opener win and the third under coach Mark Pope.

  • Milan Momcilovic: game-high 24 points, six 3-pointers
  • Zoom Diallo: 12 points
  • Alex Wilkins: 11 points, 5 assists
  • Malachi Moreno: 8 points, 10 rebounds
  • Next: James Madison at Rupp Arena, Fri., Nov. 6, 7 p.m.

Kentucky shot well and dominated the glass

53%
Kentucky's shooting from the field
39%
Kentucky's shooting from 3-point range
40-26
Kentucky's rebounding edge over Manhattan
20
assists for Kentucky

Source: WKYT

Sources: WKYT, Kentucky Kernel, Kentucky Today

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SportsKentucky lands at No. 6 in the first College Football Playoff rankings, a program bestIf you bleed blue, Tuesday was a good night. Kentucky landed at No. 6 in the first College Football Playoff rankings, the highest in program history. The old high was No. 9 on Oct. 30, 2018. Not bad for a team picked to finish 14th among the SEC's 16 teams this summer.Today’s editionRead

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