No. 23 Kentucky beats Manhattan 85-57 behind Milan Momcilovic's 24 points

Milan Momcilovic led No. 23 Kentucky to a dominant 85-57 victory over Manhattan on Tuesday night. The Iowa State transfer registered 24 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including six successful three-pointers in his first game for the Wildcats. Kentucky's season began with their fifth consecutive opening day win, with three straight victories under coach Mark Pope.

Zoom Diallo and Alex Wilkins contributed 12 points and 11 points respectively. Novak Manojlovic and Kevin Kearney each scored 11 points for Manhattan, who were 0-1 heading into the loss. Kentucky extended their lead to 48-22 at halftime, fueled by a 13-0 run in the final 13 minutes of the first half that featured three consecutive three-pointers.

The reserves sparked the impressive run, which included three more threes from Momcilovic, who led the Wildcats with 11 first-half points. Kentucky shot 53% from the field overall, outrebounding Manhattan 40-26 and recording 26 points from their bench, finishing with 20 assists. Manhattan's shooting was poor, with a 35% field goal percentage overall and 27% from beyond the arc.

Kentucky's next opponent will be James Madison on Friday, while Manhattan faces Albany on the same date.