No. 23 Kentucky hosts its final exhibition contest on Tuesday night as the Cats welcome defending Division II national champion Minnesota State Mankato to Rupp Arena.

The Cats had little trouble in their exhibition opener, topping Kentucky Wesleyan 123-52. Kentucky had eight players in double figures in the game, led by Jaxson Robinson, who had 19 points.

Starting point guard Lamont Butler thinks the Cats got valuable experience in the Kentucky Wesleyan game.

“We learned a lot. We were finally able to play somebody else,” Butler said. “It was very fun to all be on the same team and the same bench. We played very well. We were very unselfish, did not have many turnovers.”

For some of the Cats, playing at the high tempo that coach Mark Pope wants was new to them. How did Butler think UK handled the pace?

“I think we were really good pushing the pace,” he said. “We had a lot of transition opportunities, a lot of transition points. We were able to execute it. We’ve got to continue to do that. It’s going to be big for us this year.”

Butler had an impressive stat line against KWC. He had 11 points, six rebounds, six assists, six steals and two blocked shots. He prides himself on defense, which he believes is his calling card.

“I just try to go out there and do what I can do,” Butler said. “I’m not a big stats guy. Those are great stats, but I just go out there and try to do my best. I just go out there and try to disrupt, making it hard for the opposing team. It was six steals that night but one night it might be one steal but holding someone to a low number (of points).”

Butler knows that Minnesota State is a championship program and that the Cats will need to be prepared for Tuesday’s contest.

“Minnesota State is a really good team. They won the national championship for Division II,” Butler said. “I think they have three or four returners from last year’s team. We’re just trying to play hard, try to stop their actions, things like that.”

While the Cats will scout the Mavericks, they will continue to focus on improving themselves. When asked what Kentucky wanted to get out of the final exhibition game, Butler said as much.

“For us to continue to not play to the competition but to play to our standards is going to be huge,” he said.

Tuesday’s game tips off at 7 p.m. ET and can be seen on SEC Network Plus.