He also doubled. Chris Young hit an RBI single

 LEXINGTON, Ky. . -- Kyle Wiltjers first 3-pointer gave him a feeling Friday would be a pretty good night. His instincts were spot-on. The sophomore forward sank a career-best seven 3-pointers for a game-high 23 points to lead No. 3 Kentucky to a 101-49 rout of Lafayette. Wiltjers shooting set the tone for an amazing offensive night for the Wildcats (2-1), who hit 40 of 62 attempts (65 per cent), including 11 of 19 from behind the arc. He finished 7 of 11 on 3-pointers, including 5 of 8 in the second half. "I tried to go hard in shootaround," Wiltjer said, "and coach (John Calipari) always said if you have a good shootaround you have a good game. I try to have that approach every game and come out confident, and tonight I was just fortunate to have some (shots) fall." Wiltjer set the tone for a game that involved contributions from Kentuckys heralded freshmen class. Alex Poythress followed up his 20-point effort in Tuesday nights 75-68 loss to No. 9 Duke by hitting nine of 10 shots for a career-high 22 points to go with five rebounds. That didnt stop Calipari from getting on Poythress case, but it had the desired effect. "He just expects more out of me," Poythress said. "Hes just trying to pull it out. I dont blame him." Nerlens Noel added 15 points and seven rebounds, Willie Cauley-Stein 14 and Archie Goodwin 13. Graduate transfer Julius Mays had 10 of the Wildcats season-best 23 assists. "We passed the ball to each other, shot a pretty high percentage from both the 3 and (the field)," Calipari said. "Were not a 57-, 58-per cent 3-point shooting team but I believe were a 40 (per cent team)." The Wildcats (2-1) won their fourth home opener under Calipari and 10th in the past 11 seasons. They also improved to 9-1 against the Patriot League. Tony Johnson scored 13 points for Lafayette (1-2), which lost leading scorer Dan Trist to a sprained ankle during the morning shootaround. The win opened a three-game homestand for Kentucky, which was coming off a fairly solid effort against Duke. The Wildcats shot 49 per cent in that game, including 4 of 10 from 3-point range, and were nearly even on rebounds (31-30) against a veteran Blue Devils squad. And the confidence gained from cutting a 14-point deficit to three before losing carried over against Lafayette, which was playing its first ranked opponent since an 86-41 loss to No. 6 Villanova on Nov. 20, 2010. The Wildcats came out hot, hitting their first five shots and six of seven overall. Wiltjer started it with consecutive 3-pointers, Mays added one of his own and Kentucky was on its way to its best first half this season. "The skys the limit," Noel said of his teammates play. "They can play real hard. Its not going to be long before things are clicking." The Wildcats ended up hitting their first five 3-point attempts and six of eight to highlight a 20-of-31 shooting (65 per cent) effort in the first half. Their previous best was 58 per cent in the opener against Maryland. More pleasing to Calipari was how well his seven-man rotation spread the ball around. Everybody scored, with Poythress muscling inside for 12 points, Noel adding nine and Cauley-Stein and Wiltjer eight each. Despite starting without their best scorer, the Leopards were unfazed by height and talent disadvantages and stayed close -- albeit briefly. Levi Giese and Joey Ptasinski both sank 3-pointers, Alan Flannigan got an inside basket and Tony Johnson another off a Noel goaltending call. That made it 15-10 but it was all Kentucky after that. A 7-2 spurt was followed by 15 unanswered points over a 3:34 span for a 37-12 lead. Lafayette rarely got closer than 20. With their tallest player being 6-foot-10 Ben Freeland, there was little the Leopards were going to do against the Wildcats inside duo of 6-10 Noel and 7-foot Cauley-Stein to begin with. And other than a couple of sloppy stretches by Kentucky, Lafayette struggled to keep up athletically. Losing the 6-9 Trist made things even tougher. He scored a career-high 30 points to lead Lafayettes 98-94 overtime win over LIU-Brooklyn on Monday and was expected to counter some of Kentuckys scoring. "You need a post presence, you need someone you can throw it into," Lafayette coach Fran OHanlon said. "Dan Trist has been scoring the ball very well for us. Im not sure hes going to be getting 20 points against Kentucky, but he gives us an inside presence, and then he makes our outside a little bit better. "We are a much better team with Dan Trist. Were not Kentucky good, but we are much better." His presence might not have helped the Leopards, who shot just 40 per cent and committed 28 turnovers. The Wildcats outscored the Leopards 50-18 in the second half. Devin Hester Elite Jersey . Searching for their first win over the French since 1992, Canada lost 64-60 in Group B action at the Basketball Arena on Day 5 at the London 2012 Olympic Games. . Darvish pitched two-hit ball into the seventh inning and Mike Napoli homered for the fourth straight game, leading the Texas Rangers to a 10-3 rout of the Detroit Tigers on Thursday night for their seventh consecutive victory. . 15 Indiana downed Penn State, 75-58, in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. Christian Watford finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds and Victor Oladipo also pulled down 10 boards for fifth-seeded Indiana (25-7), which snapped a six-game losing streak in the tourney. J Marcus Webb Jersey . Parises agent Wade Arnott added on Sunday afternoon that his client is narrowing down his choices to a small group of teams and will probably decide on Monday. . SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. HOUSTON -- First-year owner Jim Crane believes firing manager Brad Mills and replacing him with interim manager Tony DeFrancesco will help the hapless Houston Astros win more games. That plan got off to a slow start Sunday. Houston dropped its first game under DeFrancesco when Aaron Hill homered twice to lead the Arizona Diamondbacks to an 8-1 win and a series sweep. DeFrancesco was the manager at Triple-A Oklahoma City before being promoted. The major league-worst Astros (39-83) fired Mills late Saturday night. "We need fans in the building and we want to win more ballgames," Crane said following Houstons fourth consecutive loss. "We think this is a process that will help us win more ballgames. The team was really struggling and the demeanour in the clubhouse wasnt what you want it to be. If theres a message to the fans, its that were going to make good decisions and we want to win." Houston general manager Jeff Luhnow said he made the move to "bring in a new environment" to the National Leagues youngest team. But it was more of the same Sunday as the Astros fell to 7-33 in their last 40 games. DeFrancesco, who has managed in the minors for 17 seasons, said he "almost fell to the floor" when Luhnow offered him the position and that its something hes been waiting for his entire career. "My first major league managing game didnt work out the way I wanted it," he said. "But it was an honour to put the Astros uniform on and be part of the organization. Im excited to get it going." Arizona won its ninth in a row against the Astros. The Diamondbacks hope this sweep will give them momentum as they look to make a late-season surge. Arizona is currently third in the NL West, trailing the Dodgers and Giants. "Wed like to be closer, were not right now, but were going to push it right until the end," Arizona manager Kirk Gibson said. "I think wevve got a good feel for ourselves. . ." Hill, who hit a three-run shot in Saturdays 12-4 victory, hurt the Astros again. He led off the five-run fourth with a drive against Armando Galarraga (0-4) and added another solo homer in the eighth. He also doubled. Chris Young hit an RBI single, Ryan Wheeler drew a bases-loaded walk, pitcher Ian Kennedy hit a sacrifice fly and Gerardo Parra doubled home a run in the fourth to chase Galarraga. "Once youre down early, you feel the vibes from the players," DeFrancesco said. "Its an uphill battle that theyve been doing all season. Im trying to keep these guys motivated for nine innings, every single out." Galarraga remains winless in five starts for the Astros after being tagged for six hits and five runs in 3 2-3 innings. He said Sunday was a bit of a whirlwind for the team. "Theres a lot of changes that happened in a couple hours," Galarraga said. "(DeFrancesco) was a winning manager in Oklahoma City and he brings a lot of energy here." Kennedy (11-10) yielded one run and five hits in six innings for his first win since Aug. 3. Crane said he hopes to name a regular manager by Nov. 1, but it could be much sooner and DeFrancesco would be considered for the full-time job. "Wed like to whittle our list of candidates down to three or four pretty quickly," Crane said. "If theres a guy that comes in and knocks our socks off, it might be in two weeks." NOTES: Jason Kubel returned to the Arizona lineup after missing the previous two games with a sore neck. He went 1 for 5. ... Houston opens a series at St. Louis on Monday and the Diamondbacks host Miami. ... Houston hitting coach Mike Barnett and first base coach Bobby Meacham were let go along with Mills on Saturday night. Dan Radison took over in the interim as first base coach and Ty Van Burkleo is the hitting coach. ' ' '