Oweh scores 20 points, 3rd-seeded Kentucky beats Troy

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Otega Oweh scored 20 points, Andrew Carr had 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 is the winner of Illinois versus Xavier.

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 person on its roster who played in that Oakland game, and it had no major issues against Troy this time around.

Myles Rigsby scored 14 points for the Trojans (23-11), champions of the Sun Belt Conference. Tayton Conerway had 12.

Takeaways

Troy: The Trojans made just their third appearance in the NCAA Tournament and first since 2017, when they were a 15 seed and lost to Duke 87-65. Troy first appeared in the tourney 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 3:03 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 continuing to deal with a shoulder injury. Butler, who failed to score, originally 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.

___

AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness. Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here.