Kentucky rejoices in victory over Vandy. ‘It was huge for our confidence.’
In the midst of Kentucky’s deep and dark December, John Calipari advised fans not to expect blowout victories.
Tuesday night proved that even Vanderbilt’s deeper and darker recent and more sweeping history would not be an exception.
Vandy had lost 34 of its 37 most recent Southeastern Conference games. That was a winning percentage of 8.1.
Vanderbilt had an even worse winning percentage (5 percent) against Kentucky in Rupp Arena: 2-40. The Commodores lost their first 28 games against UK in the arena before breaking through with back-to-back victories in 2006 and 2007.
Then came Tuesday night.
Davion Mintz’s corner three with 47.9 seconds left gave Kentucky a 77-74 victory.
After six straight losses in December, Kentucky was not choosy about what team to beat.
“I don’t care if it’s a middle school team,” Mintz said. “A win is a win. … It was huge for our confidence. It’s trending. It’s going in the right direction.”
The victory was not secured until Ken Pomeroy’s rating of Kentucky as the unluckiest team in Division I got a test. Vanderbilt got two three-point chances to tie it. Trey Thomas missed from the right corner. Then Maxwell Evans shot a three from near the top of the key that bounced twice off the rim before falling aside.
“My heart was dropping,” Mintz said. “They kind of experienced what we were going through for a while. … It hit every part of the rim.
“Man, it was close. Thank God it went our way.”
Kentucky, which came into the game ranked 287th in free-throw accuracy, made 26 of 32. The Cats made 12 straight free throws down the stretch in improving to 3-6 overall and 2-0 in the SEC.
Vanderbilt fell to 4-4 overall and 0-2 in the SEC.
Olivier Sarr, who made 14 of 17 free throws, loomed large. He scored a season-high 24 points before fouling out with 1:03 remaining.
Calipari mentioned one statistic at the start of his postgame news conference.
“We only had two turnovers, which is crazy,” he said. “We had none in the first half.”
Kentucky came into the game tied for 295th in turnover margin among Division I teams.
“You can tell the last two weeks, three weeks what I’ve been working on,” Calipari said. “Make the easiest play. Not trying to be a hero.”
Kentucky trailed 40-33 at halftime. This should have been familiar for the Big Blue Nation, if not a UK roster full of newcomers. In its eight-game winning streak against Vandy, Kentucky had to rally from double-digit deficits five times. The ninth straight victory required a rally from down 40-31 inside the final minute of the first half.
Kentucky never led in the final 9:29 of the half, and led by no more than six points in the first 11 minutes.
Dontaie Allen got the additional playing time Calipari hinted at. He entered the game at the 17:00 mark to cheers.
Kentucky’s poor shooting returned in the first half. The Cats made only 11 of 29 shots (one of seven on threes).
Vandy made eight of 17 three-point shots. Jordan Wright’s corner three — one of three corner threes the Commodores had in the half — gave Kentucky its largest first-half deficit (40-31) with 1:10 left.
The beginning of the second half was a carbon copy of the first. Askew picked up a foul, which brought Allen into the game.
This time Allen shot and hit a three within the first minute.
A flagrant foul on Lance Ware contributed to a five-point trip down court that put Vandy ahead 45-40.
Jacob Toppin’s putback of a missed free throw put Kentucky ahead 50-49 with 13:24 left. It was Kentucky’s first lead since the 9:29 mark of the first half, which was a footnote in another possession-by-possession test of nerves.
Calipari credited Toppin with playing a key role.
“I told them, the reason we won the game is because Jacob guarded Pippen,” the UK coach said.
Pippen, who came into the game averaging 22.6 points, needed 16 shots to score 18 points.
Mintz said his game-winning shot made him think of a similar three-point shot from the left corner he missed as as junior playing for Creighton. That miss came to mind after he swished the go-ahead three against Vandy.
The miss came at Xavier, and it has “haunted” him, Mintz said. When the team returned to Creighton after the game, he went to the gym.
“I shot, I don’t know how many, a couple hundred,” he said. “I just knew when I got that opportunity again and I didn’t know where it would be at, but I was going to make that corner three.
“Thank God it happened today. We needed it.”
Next game
Kentucky at Florida
5 p.m. Saturday (ESPN)
This story was originally published January 5, 2021 at 11:23 PM.
