LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Drew Cooper knew his Kentucky Wesleyan squad faced a big challenge on Wednesday night as the Division II opponent in mighty Kentucky's exhibition opener under new head coach Mark Pope.

He just never imagined the extent.

"I apologized to Coach Pope. I wish we put up more of a fight," Cooper said after the Wildcats unleashed a devastating shooting display at Rupp Arena en route to a 123-52 win over the program with eight national titles to its credit.

Kentucky knocked down 21 shots from the 3-point arc, a figure that would have tied a program record for a regular-season game.

"They are a very finely tuned basketball team," Cooper said. "... It's such a cliche that the sum of the parts are greater than the whole, but you've got really good basketball players that are bought into a system and sacrificing individual agendas to make an extra pass or cut hard. Even if they aren't going to be the scorer in the play, they cut hard, do things, and create opportunities for their teammates that makes it very difficult."

The Wildcats shot 63.2% from the field, recorded 32 assists on 48 made baskets, and committed only five turnovers. They finished 21 of 42 from the arc with nine different players attempting a trey and seven knocking down at least one.

Grad senior transfer guard Jaxson Robinson, who played for Pope the last three years at BYU, went 5-of-9 from deep en route to a team-high 19 points. Senior forward Ansley Almonor, formerly of Fairleigh Dickinson, came off the UK bench to knock down 5-of-7 as part of his 15-point night.

Pope suggested it was just the tip of the iceberg for his veteran, offensively skilled team, which had to be recruited in whirlwind fashion after the entire roster was depleted when John Calipari departed for the Arkansas job.

"It's hard to get 42 up," Pope said. "It's really hard to do that. Our goal is to be over 30, and that can get really complicated to get 30. I thought we turned down a couple tonight that I wish we had taken. (But) what I like the most is the shots were earned.

"We don't spend a lot of time thinking about what this (stat) sheet is going to look like after the game. We spend a lot of time thinking about what we're trying to do in the moment."

Eight different Cats finished in double-figure scoring. In addition to Robinson and Almonor, UK got 18 points from Otega Oweh, 13 points from Koby Brea, 12 points from Trent Noah and Amari Williams, 11 points from Lamont Butler, and 10 points from Andrew Carr.

"Everybody meshed really well — which I’m not surprised about because I have seen it in practice — but to see it against outside competition was really good," Brea said.

In addition to his scoring, Butler recorded six rebounds, six assists, six steals, and two blocked shots in 25 minutes of action. Pope has referred to the former San Diego State standout as the best defensive point guard in the country.

Another example of Kentucky's advanced team passing skills was starting center Williams matching Butler with six assists on the night, thriving on inside-out action to the 3-point shooters.

Forward Edward Jones Jr. led the KWC Panthers with 12 points, while guard Kennedy Miles added 10.

The Cats finished with a plus-51 advantage from the 3-point arc, holding KWC to a 4-of-27 night.

"We tried our hardest, but they shot the lights out," Miles said.

Kentucky returns to action next Tuesday in its second exhibition game, a matchup with last year's Division II national champion Minnesota State Mankato at Rupp Arena. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. ET on SEC+.