Playing back-to-back games to open its regular season, No. 2-ranked Kentucky improved to 2-0 on Saturday with an 87-57 victory over New Jersey Institute of Technology.

UK defeated Albany on Friday, 78-65.

After enduring a scoreless first half in UK's win on Friday, freshman forward Skal Labissiere did an about-face on Saturday by scoring 18 points in just 13 minutes to push Kentucky to a 36-28 halftime lead over pesky NJIT.

He was a perfect 7-for-7 from the field and 4-for-4 from the free-throw line. Labissiere ran the streak to 8-for-8 before finally missing. He finished with 26 points of 10 of 12 shooting.

UK also got a huge lift from freshman Isaiah Briscoe. The 6-3 guard, who missed Friday's season opener because of a bruised knee, came off the bench to grab 12 rebounds and score 11 points.

The surprise of the young season continued to be junior forward Derek Willis. After scoring just 41 points in his first two seasons, Willis had 11 points Saturday to go with 14 he scored on Friday.

Damon Lynn led NJIT with 19 points.

The two wins serve as a nice warm up for Kentucky, which faces No. 5 Duke on Tuesday in Chicago as part of the State Farm Champions Classic.

The second game is Kansas-Michigan State. The same four teams played in the event last season with three of the four reaching the NCAA Final Four five months later.