LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kyle Wiltjer hit a shooting slump recently, and when he tried to rely on long-range shots to buoy his game his total performance faded and his minutes dropped for Kentucky.

So the sophomore decided to work on it in two ways: Take more shots in the gym, and focus more on rebounding than anything else during games.

It paid off Saturday, as Wiltjer had 23 points and a career-high 12 rebounds in Kentucky’s 88-50 victory over Lipscomb.

Wiltjer came off the bench for the first time this season - point guard Ryan Harrow took his spot in the starting lineup - but logged 24 minutes and was the key to Kentucky’s offense. He finished 8 of 12 from the field and 7 of 9 from three point range.

“I don’t care whether he made shots; he got 12 rebounds,” Kentucky Coach John Calipari said. “We had to go in there and mix it up a little bit.”

Excluding a 7-of-11 three point performance against Lafayette on Nov. 16, Wiltjer has made 10 of 38 three-pointers this season. He was hot Saturday, though, making his first 3 three-point attempts in the first half and equaling his highest-scoring game of the season.

“Being a shooter, you just try not to think about previous games,” Wiltjer said. “Just go in the game and be confident, just have the same approach every game.”

Lipscomb (4-5) kept its deficit within 10 points of the first half until the Wildcats scored six consecutive points to close the half with a 43-29 lead.

But Kentucky (7-3) broke open the game in the second half by outscoring the Bisons 22-3 over a five-minute stretch. Wiltjer had six points in that stretch, and Harrow had four.

Harrow played aggressively on offense for the second consecutive game after returning timidly from missing four games with flu-like symptoms and an undisclosed family issue. He led the Wildcats with 13 field-goal attempts, making 6 and finishing with 12 points.

He was also more active as a vocal leader for the team, Calipari said, which the sophomore had often struggled to do this season. Harrow said when Calipari would tell him to scream out at his team, he would do it even if he didn’t know what to scream about.

“I might have been saying, ‘Screen, screen, screen,’ and the dude wasn’t even up there to screen yet, so it was just something on defense that I thought was a defensive term,” Harrow said. “ ‘Screen, screen, screen,’ or something like that, and the man wasn’t even screening. I was like, ‘Let me just say let’s go from now on.’ ”

Martin Smith had 18 points for Lipscomb, and Stephen Hurt finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

In other SEC games Saturday, Romero Osby scored 19 points, Cameron Clark added a season-high 17 points off the bench and Oklahoma beat former Big 12 rival Texas A&M 64-54 in the All-College Classic in Oklahoma City ... Troy Daniels scored 16 points and Virginia Commonwealth blitzed Alabama early with a 26-5 run, ruining former coach Anthony Grant’s return to the Siegel Center with a 73-54 victory in Richmond, Va. ... Reserve guard Curtis Dennis came off the bench cold and hit a three-pointer from the corner to rally Iona past Georgia 81-78 in overtime in Athens, Ga. ... Devon Turk scored a career-high 21 points as Loyola of Chicago beat Mississippi State 59-51 in Chicago. ... Chris Denson scored 17 points and grabbed six rebounds and freshman Jordan Price added 14 points to lead Auburn to a 64-50 victory against Furman in Auburn, Ala. ... Kedren Johnson scored 12 of his 19 points in the second half to lead Vanderbilt past Alabama A&M 71-46 in Nashville, Tenn.

FRIDAY’S GAMES

Mississippi 77, East Tennessee St. 55 Boise State 89, LSU 70

SATURDAY’S GAMES

Arkansas 97, Alcorn State 59 Kentucky 88, Lipscomb 50 Oklahoma 64, Texas A&M 54 Va. Commonwealth 73, Alabama 54 Iona 81, Georgia 78, OT Loyola-Chicago 59, Mississippi St. 51 Auburn 64, Furman 50 Vanderbilt 71, Alabama A&M 46 Arizona 65, Florida 64

Sports, Pages 35 on 12/16/2012