LEXINGTON, Ky. — It was only one game and you’re not supposed to overreact to one game, but just for the fun of it, let’s let it rip.

I think this Kentucky men’s basketball team is going to be pretty good.

(I think this Kentucky women’s basketball team is going to be pretty good, too. But for the sake of this column, let’s stick to the men.)

I know, I know, my colleague Ben Roberts polled a collection of so-called national experts about the prospects of this year’s Cats. More than a few carried a wet blanket. Said one, and one I respect, “Teams built this way — with seven or more transfers in one offseason — are rarely good.”

I have a feeling that this Kentucky team might be the exception to that rule. And it’s not an addictive case of hopium that first-year coach Mark Pope will be an instant success. I am backing my overreaction with air-tight evidence.

Kentucky scored 103 points in its 41-point victory over Wright State on Monday night. (Yes, Pope wore the No. 41 during his playing days as a Wildcat. Karma.) That’s the highest point total by a Kentucky team for a brand new coach since Tubby Smith’s first edition defeated Morehead State 88-49. Those Cats went on to hang a banner.

Kentucky shot 58.5 percent from the floor Monday night. Last year’s Cats topped that mark just five times. And the 2023-24 team was one of John Calipari’s better offensive teams. As for openers, only three of Calipari’s clubs shot better than 58.6 percent in their first game. One was the 2015-16 Cats, who shot 56.0 vs. Albany, and finished 38-1. Another was the 2011-12 Cats, who shot 61.3 percent vs. Marist, and went on to hang a banner.

Kentucky was credited with 30 assists Monday night. That’s UK’s highest assist total in any game since it compiled 33 assists in a 115-69 trouncing of Bobby Hurley and Arizona State on Nov. 28, 2016, in front of 1,200 people at the Imperial Arena in the Bahamas. De’Aaron Fox had 10 assists that night. Isaiah Briscoe contributed seven. It was the one and only time in the Calipari era in which Kentucky reached the 30-assist mark.

Kentucky also played defense Monday night. Wright State is known as a good offensive team. It ended up shooting 35.3 percent from the field. It was but 5-of-27 from 3-point range. Horizon League preseason Player of the Year Brandon Noel needed 21 shots to score 20 points.

“I was very impressed with their physicality defensively,” first-year Wright State coach Clint Sargent said.

It should be noted that the Wright State Raiders are not the Duke Blue Devils, a certain team the Cats face next week in Atlanta. That goes without notation. One game does not make a season, even a special game in which (a) Pope wore a suit, complete with cuff links a la his old coach and mentor Rick Pitino, and (b) he was presented a wooden plaque commemorating his first official win as Kentucky coach.

Still, if vibes are your thing, there were plenty of positive vibes. Rupp Arena was nearly packed, which hasn’t always been the case in recent years. The Rupp crowd was into it. The team was into it. (“I thought they came out like I hoped they would,” Pope said of his team.) The result was better than satisfactory.

And here’s the best thing: Afterward, Pope said, “There’s room for us to grow.”

That may not be necessarily true about a team that is as old as this Kentucky team. Yet Pope could well be right. Despite its apparent chemistry and continuity, this is a brand-new team with players who had to introduce themselves to each other this summer. We’re still in the feeling-out process. An accelerated feeling-out process.

If that’s the case, these Cats are ahead of schedule.

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