LEXINGTON, Ky. — With one of the “Unforgettables” on the opposing sideline Wednesday night and the other three in attendance, a couple of kids from Kentucky had career nights for the Wildcats in Rupp Arena.

Trent Noah and Malachi Moreno were among the big contributors in UK’s 104-54 victory over Tennessee Tech, the Cats’ final tuneup before a blue-blood battle next week.

Moreno, a Georgetown native, logged his second double-double in his seventh college game, tallying 13 points and a career-high 11 rebounds. Noah, a Harlan native, was 4 for 5 from 3-point range and scored a career-high 16 points. He also tied a career high with six rebounds.

Denzel Aberdeen and Otega Oweh also scored 16 points each to tie for tops among the Wildcats, and Collin Chandler added 13 points.

Senior walk-on Walker Horn hit an off-balance 3-pointer to beat the buzzer of the shot clock with 1:22 remaining for his first points as a Kentucky Wildcat. Fellow walk-on Zach Tow followed that up with a free throw for his first point as a UK player.

The Rupp crowd greeted Tennessee Tech head coach John Pelphrey, a native of Paintsville, with a big cheer during pregame introductions. The beloved former UK player is in his seventh season as head coach of the Golden Eagles, and his team gave the Cats a bit of a scare in the early going.

Tennessee Tech (3-4), which came into the game at No. 322 in the KenPom ratings, actually led the 19th-ranked Wildcats 25-23 past the midway point of the first half. From there, Kentucky (5-2) unleashed a couple of 9-0 runs to go up 43-26, taking a 15-point lead into halftime.

Chandler scored seven points during that stretch to help get the Cats going. Noah and Moreno were also on the court for those flurries — with Noah nailing a 3-pointer to put UK up 30-25 and Moreno throwing down a dunk for a 37-26 lead — and the two Kentucky natives were the team’s leaders going into the break.

Noah was the only UK player in double figures at halftime. He had 10 points and five rebounds — one shy of his career high in both stats — after 20 minutes. Moreno already had eight rebounds.

The opening for Tennessee Tech was a feel-good start for fans of Pelphrey but perhaps a worrying sign for the Wildcats, who were eight days removed from an 83-66 loss to Michigan State, with their next marquee matchup of the season — a home date with No. 16 North Carolina — coming Tuesday night in Rupp Arena.

Against Tennessee Tech, the Cats missed their first five 3-point attempts — before Noah finally hit one — and were 1 of 10 from deep at one point in the first half.

For the game, Kentucky shot 15 of 30 from long range. The Cats were 12 of 17 from deep in the second half, with Aberdeen nailing three 3-pointers over a two-minute span late in the game. UK made its last seven 3-point attempts of the night and its last 10 shots overall.

UK opened up a 27-point lead a little more than five minutes into the second half. The Cats were up 30 before the second TV timeout of the period and kept pouring it on down the stretch.

Tennessee Tech, which was picked by the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook to finish last in the 11-team OVC during the preseason, had already lost to Western Kentucky, Charlotte and West Georgia. The Golden Eagles were nearly 40-point underdogs before tipoff Wednesday.

Before the game, Pelphrey posed on the court with his fellow “Unforgettables” — Richie Farmer, Deron Feldhaus and Sean Woods — and that trio formed a group “Y” during the first TV timeout of the second half.

Farmer, Feldhaus, Pelphrey and Woods stuck with the program through probation and formed the nucleus of Rick Pitino’s first Kentucky team that was eligible for the postseason. They were all seniors during the 1991-92 season, which ended with a run to the Elite Eight.

The Cats returned to the Final Four for the first time in nine years the following season.

Mouhamed Dioubate injury update

Kentucky junior forward Mouhamed Dioubate missed his second consecutive game with an ankle injury. Dioubate was hurt late in the Wildcats’ loss to Michigan State last week.

The transfer from Alabama started the first five games of the season for the Wildcats and is averaging 11.6 points and 5.8 rebounds in 20.4 minutes per game so far. He’s also shooting 62.2% from the field, though he’s only 1 for 11 from 3-point range.

With Dioubate out, Mark Pope went with the same starting five Wednesday as the 88-46 victory over Loyola (Md.) last time out: Aberdeen, Chandler, Oweh, Kam Williams and Moreno.

When is the next UK basketball game?

The Wildcats will return to Rupp Arena on Tuesday night for the third edition of the ACC/SEC Challenge, with the No. 16-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels the opponent for this season.

UNC is off to a 6-0 start under coach Hubert Davis, with an 87-74 home victory over now-unranked Kansas counting as their top win so far. Before coming to Lexington, the Heels will play No. 11 Michigan State at 4:30 p.m. EST Thursday on Fox. The Spartans (6-0) beat UK, 83-66, in Madison Square Garden last week.

North Carolina’s top player has been freshman forward Caleb Wilson, who was the No. 8 overall recruit in the 247Sports rankings for the class of 2025 and a major Kentucky target during that recruitment. Wilson is averaging 20.5 points and 10.3 rebounds per game for the Heels.

UK has won its past two matchups with UNC, and this will be the first time the Tar Heels have played in Rupp Arena since the 2014-15 season, when the Cats ended up with a 38-1 record, beating North Carolina 84-70 in Lexington.

The UK-UNC game Tuesday is set for 9:30 p.m. EST on ESPN.

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