LEXINGTON — Kentucky State wasn’t expected to offer much resistance to Kentucky Thursday night.

And the Thorobreds didn’t, as the Wildcats rolled to a 99-53 exhibition victory at Rupp Arena.

But KSU put up even less of a fight than usual — at John Calipari’s request. During his pregame radio show, Calipari, in his 15th season as UK’s coach, said he asked Kentucky State not to play zone defense during the exhibition.

The Thorobreds, being hospitable guests, complied.

And the Wildcats made them pay.

After beating this same KSU squad by 58 points (111-53) in an exhibition last season, Thursday could have become nearly as lopsided if the Wildcats hadn’t let up late, taking out their scholarship players in the closing minutes.

"If you watched us in Toronto (during the GLOBL JAM tournament), we were a great zone offensive team, because we put Tre in the middle," said Calipari, referring to senior forward Tre Mitchell. "We put shooters around him. We even had some high-low stuff. So we're fine."

Friday initially was going to be "nothing but zone" at practice, Calipari said. Since it's an off day for the Wildcats, Calipari admitted the zone work now will "have to be at some point Saturday."

At least Thursday, UK barely broke a sweat.

By the end of the first half, the Wildcats held a 50-20 lead. At intermission, they had 14 assists, no turnovers and a 55.6% (20 of 36) conversion rate from the field.

Kentucky finally committed a turnover with exactly 11 minutes remaining; it had racked up 21 assists by that point.

It was a well-rounded effort for the Wildcats offensively: All five starters — seniors Mitchell and Antonio Reeves, sophomore Adou Thiero and freshmen Justin Edwards and D.J. Wagner — recorded double-figure point totals.

Reeves led all scorers Thursday, finishing with 20 points. He was effective everywhere: 5 of 9 overall (4 for 6 on 3-pointers) and 6 of 6 at the free-throw line.

"He's more physical. Now he'll mix it up. Now he talks more on defense," said Calipari, comparing Reeves in 2023 to the player who joined the program as a transfer last year. "And offensively, he's figured out, 'How do I get to the rim some?'

"He's way better than he was a year ago. I mean, he was a good player last year, but his confidence in himself right now? He's self assured."

Edwards excelled as well. He connected on his first five shots before Thursday’s first media timeout. Edwards opened the second half with a one-handed dunk. Considered the potential No. 1 pick in next year’s NBA draft, the Philadelphia phenom ended the night with 17 points (on 8-of-12 shooting) and nine rebounds.

Next June's draft is out of sight, out of mind for Edwards right now, though.

"It's an honor, but I haven't even played a real college game yet," said Edwards, who also had two blocks and a steal in the 46-point win. "So I just look at it as like regular high school (recruiting) rankings. ... Everybody has their opinion on players."

Mitchell posted a double-double, with 15 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. He was 6-for-9 from the field and 3 of 5 from distance. It came on the heels of similarly superlative outings from him in the last few weeks: Mitchell was the leading scorer (22 points) and rebounder (nine) in last week's exhibition win over Georgetown College, while he notched another double-double (14 points, 14 rebounds) in the Blue-White scrimmage.

"My goal is to get out there and impact the game whatever way I can," Mitchell said. "Whether that be on the glass, get a couple steals, couple blocks, couple assists— whatever it may be, I'm just trying to impact the game.

"When you're good to the game, the game is good to you. So I just go out there and play."

Wagner, who struggled against Georgetown (four points on 2-of-9 shooting), was far better against KSU, finishing with 12 points. Wagner hit five of his 10 attempts from the field and was the game’s leading distributor, dishing out seven assists.

"I coached his dad," said Calipari, referring to Dajuan Wagner, a star player for him at Memphis in the early 2000s. "His dad did not talk. He just played and scored. But he wasn't a talker.

"This guy (D.J. Wagner) runs us. He's looking at players. He is moving them around."

Thiero made only three field goals (on four attempts) but made hay at the charity stripe, where he was 7 of 10. He also tallied eight rebounds.

“I have just been working on my shot a lot over the summer and I think I shot pretty well tonight," Thiero said. "I feel I should have made a couple more foul shots. I have been working on it a lot with (assistant) coach John Welch by getting shots up before practice.”

In sum, the Wildcats had 25 assists to six turnovers; the Thorobreds, on the other hand, had nearly three times as many giveaways (13) as assists (five).

In addition, UK was well north of 50% from the field (37 of 66; 56.1%), far outpacing Kentucky State's 29.7% (19 for 64).

When a team plays as well — and wins so decisively — as Kentucky did Thursday, it can difficult to identify flaws.

Mitchell found one, though.

"We definitely were (giving the walk-ons a hard time from the sideline)," Mitchell said, alluding to the final seconds of the contest. "We wanted to see it get to 100 (points) as bad as everybody else."

With the preseason wrapped up, Kentucky now turns its attention to its opener, which will be a home affair Monday against New Mexico State. The game is slated to begin at 8 p.m. It will air nationally on SEC Network.

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Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky vs Kentucky State basketball: John Calipari, Cats roll to win