Kentucky bounces back with a 46-point win over Eastern Illinois

Ben Roberts, Lexington Herald-Leader on Nov 14, 2025

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LEXINGTON, Ky. — By the time the Eastern Illinois player assigned to jump center left his feet Friday night, Brandon Garrison had already won the opening tipoff.

And that’s about how things went for the Panthers in their visit to Rupp Arena.

No. 9 Kentucky — playing for the first time since its rivalry loss to Louisville three nights earlier — defeated Eastern Illinois, 99-53, to improve to 3-1 on the season.

The Wildcats, who feasted on two similarly overmatched mid-major opponents last week, will now turn their attention to No. 17 Michigan State, their opponent in next week’s Champions Classic.

They’ll go into that Top-25 battle off another blowout victory, but the uncertainty regarding UK’s lineup will linger. Jaland Lowe, expected to be the starting point guard for the Cats this season, reinjured his shoulder during practice Thursday afternoon and was ruled out of the game against Eastern Illinois.

Lowe, who missed both of UK’s exhibition games and the regular-season opener with an injury to the same shoulder, does not have an official timeline for a potential return to the court.

His teammates didn’t need him Friday night.

Playing against an undersized and short-handed Eastern Illinois team, the Cats scored their first 10 points in the paint. A turnaround hook from Garrison made it 12-2 before the first TV timeout. And the onslaught continued from there.

Kentucky led 47-19 at halftime and immediately opened up a 32-point lead in the opening minute of the second half, with Otega Oweh scoring the first four points out of the break on two dunks. UK’s advantage ballooned to as many as 47 points before the end.

Mouhamed Dioubate scored 20 points to go with 11 rebounds, leading the Cats in both categories. The junior forward hit the 20-point mark for just the second time in his three-year college career. He scored 22 in Alabama’s win over Vanderbilt last season. On Friday night, he was 8 for 9 from the floor, adding two blocks and two steals on the defensive end.

Kentucky won the rebounding battle 49-17 and beat Eastern Illinois 54-16 in points in the paint. The Cats had 22 second-chance points to just three for the Panthers.

Denzel Aberdeen, who’s been filling in for Lowe as UK’s starting point guard, had 13 points and two steals in 22 minutes, leading the team with a plus-38 rating. Otega Oweh added 12 points and three assists in 16 minutes.

Freshman center Malachi Moreno tallied 11 points and six rebounds. Freshman guard Jasper Johnson came off the bench to lead the Cats in assists with seven. Fellow reserve Andrija Jelavic added 11 points and seven rebounds, both career highs in his fourth college game.

Trent Noah, who started the season opener for Kentucky but left that game in the first half with an ankle injury, made his return to the court with 13:44 left in the first half Friday night. He ended up with eight points, three rebounds and two steals in 22 minutes.

Eastern Illinois (1-3) lost its season opener to Valparaiso — a team UK beat by 48 points three nights later — and followed up a victory over Nicholls with a 20-point loss to Notre Dame.

The Panthers, who were picked to finish 10th in the 11-team OVC in that league’s preseason poll, came into the night at No. 313 nationally in the KenPom ratings. And they played this game without two of their best players. Leading scorer Zion Fruster and No. 3 scorer Preston Turner were both sidelined.

The Cats were coming off a 96-88 loss at No. 12 Louisville three nights earlier, their first defeat of the season in their first marquee matchup on the 2025-26 schedule.

Kentucky will face another stuff challenge Tuesday night, when they meet 17th-ranked Michigan State in Madison Square Garden for the 15th edition of the Champions Classic.

The Spartans are off to a 3-0 start this season, with a victory over John Calipari and the Arkansas Razorbacks last weekend. The UK-Michigan State game is set for 6:30 p.m. EST and will be shown on ESPN.