LEXINGTON, Ky. (WYMT) – The official start of the Kentucky basketball season is less than one week away but before the Wildcats start the regular season hosting Wright State, they Wildcats had a dominate showing in another exhibition game, this time against Minnesota State Mankato.

The Cats beat the Mavericks 98-67 in UK’s final exhibition game of the preseason.

Offensively, it was a much different start compared to the Wildcats’ first exhibition game.

In the first 10 minutes of the Wildcats’ game against Minnesota State, Kentucky was just 2-13 from beyond the arc and saw their lead cut to 22-20 with just six minutes left in the game.

“We‘re going to go 2-13 in the first nine minutes sometimes from the three-point line when it is shots that we‘re earning,” head coach Mark Pope said. “We‘re going to keep shooting, it‘s a beautiful way to play. What BBN is going to learn is they‘re just going to learn is they’re going to be like okay this is really hard right now but it’s coming and then there will suddenly be a barrage of makes.”

As the Cats continued to shoot, they sparked an 18-0 run with five made three-pointers.

Leading the charge of the 18-0 run was Jaxson Robinson, who was responsible for three of their five made three-pointers.

“Me and [Andrew Carr] were sitting on the bench and he looked up and he said, ‘dang, we‘re 2-13.′,” Robinson said. “I was like ’keep shooting it.’ That‘s just how we play, that’s how coach Pope rolls. Eventually, they fell.”

Robinson led Kentucky in scoring with 24 points while three other Wildcats scored in double figures. Overall, UK shot 53.6% from the field and 35.1% from deep.

An important statistic that stood out to Pope as Kentucky nears their season opener was the unselfish ball movement and ball security.

“In a game that felt weird … for us to [have] 28 [assists] and 8 [turnovers] in this game, less than 10 turnovers is super exciting to me. And nearing 30 assists is really important for us. I’m really ecstatic about those numbers.”

Kentucky returns to Rupp Arena on Monday, Nov. 4 to open their season against Wrights State.

Here is the box score:

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