Five things you need to know from No. 5 Kentucky’s uninspiring 78-67 win over Colgate

Five things you need to know from No. 5 Kentucky’s lackluster 78-67 win over Colgate in men’s basketball at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center:

1. Kentucky’s point guard situation. The past week was hard on the UK lead guard rotation.

Starting point guard Lamont Butler sat out Saturday night’s epic 90-89 overtime win over Gonzaga after suffering an ankle injury in last Tuesday’s 70-66 loss at Clemson.

Backup point guard Kerr Kriisa was lost in the second half versus Gonzaga to a foot injury. UK subsequently said it was not a season-ending injury but that Kriisa would require surgery and was out indefinitely.

On Wednesday night, Butler watched his second straight game from the Kentucky bench in a sweat suit. With wing shooter Koby Brea sliding into the starting lineup, Jaxson Robinson shifted to the point.

It turns out, playing without a true point guard is not that easy.

The leading scoring team in NCAA men’s Division I basketball at 92.3 points a game entering the contest, Kentucky was held to 78 points Wednesday night.

In an uneven showing, Kentucky led the game 17-3, trailed 47-46 and then scored 12 straight points (see below) to take control of the contest.

Forced to initiate the offense, Robinson made only 4 of 14 shots, 2 of 11 3-pointers, en route to 14 points. Fellow wing Otega Oweh also took on some of the ball-handling responsibilities.

True freshman Travis Perry, the former Lyon County star, got nine minutes of playing time, although he missed all four of his field-goal attempts.

Suffice to say, with intrastate rival Louisville coming to Rupp Arena on Saturday, the Wildcats really need Butler back.

2. UK 3-point accuracy. After the Wildcats shot 40% or better from behind the arc in four of their first five games, Kentucky entered Wednesday’s game having made only 27.1% of its 3-point tries (29 of 107) in its four games prior to Colgate.

On Wednesday night, the UK 3-point shooting was again cool — with one notable exception.

In the first half vs. Colgate, Koby Brea went 4-of-4 on 3-pointers. The rest of the UK team went 0-for-11.

However, with Kentucky down 47-46 to the plucky Raiders early in the second half, the Cats scored four straight buckets from behind the arc to take full control of the game.

Robinson cashed a trey with 15:03 left, then hit another one at 14:31. Former Harlan County star Trent Noah connected for a 3-pointer from the left side at 14:01, then Oweh swished a trey from the top of the key at 12:56.

That 3-point barrage pushed Kentucky from 47-46 behind to 58-47 ahead — which essentially decided the game.

For the game, UK made 10 of 31 3-point shots. Brea was 5-for-8, the rest of the UK team 5-for-23.

3. You can count on Oweh. Otega Oweh finished Wednesday night’s game with 15 points. Through his first 10 games in a Kentucky uniform, the Oklahoma transfer has scored in double figures in all 10.

Oweh’s season high to date is 21 points vs. Jackson State. His season low was 10 vs. Bucknell.

4. Colgate vs. power conference teams. Kentucky was the third power conference foe Colgate has faced. By way of comparison to the Wildcats’ 11-point win over the Raiders, Colgate lost 74-72 at Syracuse and 72-49 at North Carolina State, both ACC members.

5. Wildcats vs. the Patriot. With the victory over Colgate, Kentucky has now played all but one of the 10 teams currently in the Patriot League. The only team in that Patriot that UK has yet to play is Lehigh.

The Cats are now 17-1 against the teams now in the Patriot League. The only loss was at Navy, 32-26, on Jan. 18, 1928.

Against Patriot League teams, UK is 5-0 vs. Boston University, 3-0 against Holy Cross, 3-1 against Navy and 1-0 vs. America, Army, Bucknell, Colgate, Lafayette and Loyola Maryland.

Colgate was the second Patriot League team that Kentucky played for the first time this season. The Wildcats beat Bucknell 100-72 on Nov. 9.

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