MILWAUKEE — Otega Oweh scored 20 points, Andrew Carr added 13 and third-seeded Kentucky beat Troy 76-57 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday.
Oweh added eight assists and six rebounds, and Amari Williams grabbed 13 boards for Kentucky.
Next up for the Wildcats (23-11) in the Midwest Region on Sunday is the winner of Illinois versus Xavier, who squared off in the nightcap at Fiserv Forum.
Kentucky also was a No. 3 seed last year when it lost 80-76 to 14th-seeded Oakland in the first round. But it doesn’t have a single player on its roster who played in that Oakland game, and it had no major issues against Troy.
Myles Rigsby scored 14 points and Tayton Conerway added 12 for the Trojans (23-11), champions of the Sun Belt.
Takeaways
Troy: The Trojans made just their third NCAA Tournament appearance and first since 2017, when they were a 15 seed and lost to Duke 87-65. Troy first appeared in the tournament in 2003.
Kentucky: The Wildcats have made more appearances (63) and played more games (186) in the NCAA Tournament than any other program, with eight national titles, their last in 2012.
Key moment
Kentucky had a 25-24 lead with 3 minutes, 3 seconds left in the first half when it started to pull away, scoring eight consecutive points in a little more than a minute. Trent Noah and Carr made back-to-back 3-pointers, and Williams drove the length of the court for a dunk.
Playing with pain
Kentucky guard Lamont Butler logged 25 minutes while dealing with a shoulder injury. Butler, who didn’t score, missed six games with the injury in mid-January. He suffered a separate injury in the same shoulder during Kentucky’s win over Oklahoma in the second round of the SEC tournament.
