‘THE best team in the country’? Kentucky looks the part in rout of Vandy

Only six days earlier, No. 1 Tennessee came to Memorial Gym and needed overtime and a controversial hook-and-hold call to defeat Vanderbilt.

On Tuesday night, Kentucky humiliated Vanderbilt 87-52. It was the biggest margin of victory for UK here since the 1996 national champions beat the Commodores by 39 points (110-81) on Feb. 7, 1996.

After Kentucky buried his team, Vanderbilt Coach Bryce Drew praised the longtime Caesar of Southeastern Conference basketball.

“Kentucky’s playing really well,” Drew said. “They might be playing as well as anybody in the country. Maybe THE best team in the country the way they’re playing.”

Kentucky’s shooting — a season-best 58.8 percent from three-point range, 55.6 percent overall — impressed Drew.

“If they shoot that way, I don’t see anybody beating them,” the Vandy coach said.

UK Coach John Calipari tried to tap the brakes on the inevitable runaway enthusiasm generated by such a victory. He pointed out that UK only won the second half by five points, though he acknowledged that it’s hard to maintain focus when up 30 points at halftime.

“We’ve been on a steady climb,” Calipari said of UK’s seven-game winning streak. “But we’re halfway to where I think we can be.”

Calipari said he teased the players at halftime. UK led 45-15.

“I told them I was really mad at them,” he said, “because I don’t want any of my teams playing this well in January.”

On Monday, Vandy freshman Aaron Nesmith said of Kentucky, “We can hang with them and beat them.”

Not a chance this night. Not even close.

Kentucky, which improved to 17-3 overall and 6-1 in the Southeastern Conference, outscored the Commodores 23-1 to close the first half. That came on the heels of Oklahoma putting a 19-0 run on Vandy last weekend.

PJ Washington led the Cats with 26 points and 12 rebounds. Roommates Tyler Herro and Keldon Johnson added 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Vanderbilt, which hasn’t won a game since December, fell to 9-11 overall and 0-7 in the SEC.

If it had been a boxing match, Vandy’s manager would have thrown in the towel at halftime after the Commodores had been held to 15 points. The previous low first-half point total for a UK opponent this season was the 22 scored by Monmouth.

Vandy had no baskets in the final 8:02 of the half, one in the final 10:55 and two in the final 13:50.

The Commodores had almost three times as many turnovers (14) as baskets (five). That fueled a 16-0 advantage for Kentucky in points off turnovers. The final numbers were 20 turnovers and 17 baskets for Vandy. UK enjoyed a 24-9 advantage in points off turnovers.

While numbers can be an incomplete measurement of play, that did not seem the case in the first half.

The opening 20 minutes were as ugly or enjoyable (depending on your rooting interest) as the numbers suggested. Kentucky, which faced little resistance, had 11 assists and one turnover. Vandy, which faced a lot of resistance, had two assists and 14 turnovers.

Washington had a double-double at halftime. He scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, putting him on pace for the seemingly unreachable standard set by UK Coach John Calipari: 35 points and 20 rebounds.

Kentucky pummeled Vanderbilt without leading scorer Johnson nor primary post scorer Reid Travis scoring.

Each scored early in the second half: a three-pointer by Johnson with 19:21 left and a free throw by Travis at the 16:07 mark. Each put UK ahead by 33.

Midway through the second half, Kentucky’s lead had ballooned to 70-32. It was impossible to know how many UK fans had called it a night and gone to bed. But a noticeable number of Vandy fans had departed Memorial Gym by the third television timeout.

Nick Richards punctuated the blowout by dunking two lob passes in the final minute.

Those dunks, which capped a season-high 14 points for Richards, came as the UK fans in attendance chanted C-A-T-S, Cats, Cats, Cats.

Of the comparisons to how No. 1 Tennessee and No. 7 Kentucky played at Vanderbilt within the same seven-day period, Calipari cautioned against drawing conclusions by comparing scores.

But Washington saw a message.

“It just says a lot about (how) our work is paying off,” he said. “We’re really hot right now. And we’ll just try to keep on this streak and keep beating teams by a lot of points.”

Next game

No. 7 Kentucky at Florida

4 p.m. Saturday (ESPN)

This story was originally published January 30, 2019 at 12:51 AM.