FINAL: No. 9 Kentucky overcomes slow start to down Nicholls 77-51 in season-opener

The first half was anything but pretty, but Kentucky turned up the heat in the second half to pick up a season-opening dub.

On Tuesday in Rupp Arena, the No. 9 Wildcats (1-0) overcame a poor shooting start to eventually run away with a 77-51 win over the Nicholls Colonels in the first game of the 2025-26 season. While the defense was superb all-around, Kentucky shot just 32 percent in the opening half before responding to shoot 61 percent in the second half. Four ‘Cats finished in double-figures, led by 15 points from Collin Chandler. Otega Oweh (13 points), Jasper Johnson (11), and Denzel Aberdeen rounded out the top scorers for UK.

Nicholls was held to just 30.2 percent shooting for the game, including a 4-24 clip from three-point range. Only two players for the Colonels, Jalin Rice and Jalik Dunkley, reached double-digits with 13 and 10 points, respectively. Kentucky dominated the glass (51-30), but a 12-22 mark from the free-throw line on the night left some to be desired.

It certainly wasn’t a complete performance from the ‘Cats, but a win is still a win.

If you only watched the defensive end of the floor in the first half, you would have thought Kentucky was running Nicholls right out of Rupp and back to Louisiana. The Colonels did not make a field goal for nearly four minutes to open the game and finally hit double-figures once there were only six minutes left in the half. Nicholls shot just 12 percent (!!!) from the field and 1-12 from deep in the opening half of action.

That was the fun part. Now for the frustrating part.

Kentucky’s offense looked out of sync from tipoff. At one point, the ‘Cats were averaging a single point per minute until a late “surge” helped them close the half strong. The shooting was undeniably poor, though. UK was held to 32.3 percent shooting from the field, a 2-16 mark from long range, and an abysmal 6-13 from the free throw line through 20 minutes. Trent Noah even went down with what appeared to be an ankle injury that required him to be helped off the floor, although he would return to the bench in the second half.

At the break, it was 28-15 in favor of the home team.

Fortunately, Kentucky came out of the locker room ready to put up some points. Five straight points in 60 seconds helped set the tone as the ‘Cats quickly ballooned their lead to 20-plus. Through the first eight minutes of the second half, UK was 8-12 from the field and 3-5 from beyond the arc to make it a 50-26 advantage. Kentucky continued to cruise the rest of the way, but not before Chandler blew the roof off the building with a monster one-handed slam.

YOOOOOOO, @collinchand13r 🙆‍♂️🫣😼🙀

📺 – SEC Network+ pic.twitter.com/YWvtMu57FH

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) November 5, 2025

To say Chandler’s dunk was needed to juice up the frustrated crowd would be an understatement. It left the fans buzzing for a few minutes as we dipped into the final media timeout, Kentucky now leading 72-45. Zach Tow and Walker Horn would check in late as the ‘Cats went on to earn the 26-point victory for a 1-0 start to year two of the Mark Pope era.

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