LEXINGTON — After Texas A&M-Commerce ripped off eight points in barely three minutes to take an 8-0 lead Friday night, John Calipari called timeout. The Lions’ lead eventually grew to as many as 13 points on two occasions.

Then, finally, Calipari’s Kentucky club woke up.

After a sluggish start against Texas A&M-Commerce, the Wildcats righted themselves just past the midpoint of the first half before going on to win, 81-61, at Rupp Arena.

Friday's stunted start continued a theme for UK (2-0) dating back to the beginning of the preseason. In its exhibition game versus Georgetown College, Kentucky led by one point (35-34) at the end of the first half. Then in its season opener against New Mexico State earlier this week, UK never shook the visitors during the opening 20 minutes, heading into intermission up only eight.

Calipari, who noted he had "a lot of concerns" about his team heading into Tuesday's matchup against top-ranked Kansas in Chicago, preferred to focus on the lone outing the Wildcats stomped their foe from the get-go: the exhibition finale versus Kentucky State, when UK led 50-20 at halftime.

"Early in the game — we're talking the first five minutes, we're not talking half — I thought we were in a great frame of mind and took them out of what they were trying to do," he said. "And you could say, 'Well, it was Kentucky State.' OK."

Friday was different.

"We missed shots, layups, and they make them," Calipari said, referring to a Texas A&M-Commerce squad that connected on five of its first seven 3-pointers to take a 19-6 lead less than seven minutes in. "You won't believe this: If you miss all your shots and they make all their shots, you are going to be down early. So it's not brain surgery."

Nor does it take a rocket scientist to surmise Kentucky can ill afford digging itself a double-digit hole against Kansas.

"We've just got to come out strong, come out giving it 100% — each of us," said UK senior guard Antonio Reeves, who led all scorers Friday with 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting (5 for 8 on 3s). "We just can't get off to a slow start like that with them. We just can't. Not at all. Because they're a good team. They're No. 1 in the country. We just can't do that with those type of teams."

Freshman guard D.J. Wagner, who had 11 points, three assists and a steal Friday, countered that the Wildcats don't take any opponent lightly.

"We've been saying that since last game: We've got to work on starting off strong and not waiting until the second half to try to kick up or try to improve the intensity," he said. "So no matter who we're playing — it don't matter what team we're playing, we always want to keep that as a focus."

Texas A&M-Commerce (0-3) didn't receive the memo about Kentucky burying foes with an early barrage.

From the jump, the Lions didn’t look like a team playing their third game in less than five days — all away from home. They lost at Texas A&M (78-46) on Monday and at Texas Tech (73-46) on Wednesday.

But they opened Friday hitting nine of their first 15 shots from the field. Slowly but surely, the Wildcats began to find a rhythm offensively — and force turnovers defensively.

Finally, a 17-3 run by the hosts turned what had been a 21-8 deficit into a 25-24 advantage.

It was Kentucky's first lead.

At the 7:41 mark of the first half.

“I thought we made them guard multiple sides of the floor and we got into quick actions as we got tired, and (as) their athleticism and length started bothering us more, our pace offensively was slower, which allowed them to kind of overwhelm us on some possessions," Texas A&M-Commerce coach Jaret von Rosenberg said. "That was why I thought the start was good: We kept them out of the paint early there and they got some 3s that didn’t go in for them, so we got some rebounds."

With the Wildcats fully in command in the final 20 minutes, the Lions never drew closer than six points. Kentucky, ranked 16th in both major polls, eventually extended its advantage to as many as 22 (81-59) with 1:31 to play.

While it's more important how a team finishes than how it starts, this UK team could use a boost at the beginning of games.

Patience is a virtue.

"That's not even our main focus, like hitting shots or banking on (making) shots, really," Wagner said. "I feel like once we miss shots and all that, it (doesn't) really affect us that much because that's not our focus.

"We're just focusing on making the right play and doing whatever we've got to do to win."

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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 Texas A&M-Commerce: John Calipari, UK win after slow start