Vanderbilt up next for Kentucky. Here’s what the Cats talked about Tuesday.
Takeaways from media interviews Tuesday previewing Kentucky’s game against Vanderbilt on Wednesday night:
▪ Assistant coach Joel Justus dismissed the notion that the November loss to Evansville taught UK the lesson of not taking any opponent for granted. Even Vandy, which has lost 24 straight SEC regular-season games and 26 straight against league teams overall. November games are ancient history, Justus suggested.
▪ Ashton Hagans said football was his best sport. But he did not want to be a bench warmer as a high school freshman, so he decided to devote all his athletic energy to basketball.
▪ Nate Sestina said UK Coach John Calipari was right to see a different mindset in him. Sestina said he did go from a player who wanted to prove he belonged at the Kentucky level to a guy wanting to live up to previous performances.
▪ With Kahlil Whitney’s departure, Keion Brooks will see more playing time at the wing, Justus said.
▪ Hagans seemed unaware that Vandy had lost 24 straight SEC regular-season games. He asked that it be repeated seemingly to make sure he heard that correctly.
Wednesday
Vanderbilt at Kentucky
When: 6:30 p.m.
TV: SEC Network
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Vanderbilt 8-11 (0-6 SEC), Kentucky 15-4 (5-1)
Series: Kentucky leads 147-47
Last meeting: Kentucky won 87-62 on Jan. 29, 2019, at Nashville, Tenn.
