Kentucky gets back to winning with 3-point barrage in lopsided victory at Vanderbilt
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Game day: No. 17 Kentucky 109, Vanderbilt 77
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Tuesday’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Vanderbilt at Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville, Tennessee.
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Kentucky came out firing Tuesday night, and the Wildcats got back to winning basketball on the road following two losses in Rupp Arena last week.
The No. 17-ranked Cats beat Vanderbilt 109-77 in Memorial Gymnasium, with UK fans making up the majority of the crowd in the Nashville arena, loud chants of “Go Big Blue!” ringing out during the lopsided SEC matchup.
Antonio Reeves led the way with 24 points for the Wildcats, adding six rebounds and hitting on 6 of 9 3-pointers. Freshman guard Rob Dillingham added 20 points and nine assists, making three straight 3-pointers in a span of two minutes and two seconds after checking in early in the first half. Dillingham, who scored 35 points against Tennessee on Saturday night, was named the Associated Press national player of the week earlier in the day.
Reeves and Dillingham were key players in Kentucky’s 3-point onslaught to start the night. The Cats hit 10 of their first 12 long-range attempts, going up 50-30 on Reeves’ 3 with 3:39 left in the first half. UK finished the game at 15 of 26 from 3-point range (57.7%).
Struggling freshman Justin Edwards scored a career-high 17 points. He hit a 3-pointer about one minute into the game but missed his next four shots before going on a heater in the second half. Edwards scored 14 points after the break, leaving the court to a big round of applause from the UK fans with 4:54 left and the Cats up 96-72. His second-half flurry included a highlight-reel windmill jam in transition.
Kentucky (16-6, 6-4 SEC) led 54-38 at halftime and scored the first five points of the second half. Freshman forward Jordan Burks threw down a dunk with 3:55 left to give UK a 100-72 lead. Burks scored a career-high 13 points.
Freshman 7-footer Aaron Bradshaw scored 12 points and had a series of high-energy dunks. It was the first time Bradshaw had scored in double figures since an 11-point performance in a win over Mississippi State on Jan. 17.
Zvonimir Ivisic, who did not play Saturday against Tennessee after missing the previous day’s practice with an illness, entered Tuesday’s game after the first TV timeout and promptly made an impact, getting five points and two offensive rebounds in his first shift on the court. He also picked up two quick fouls in exactly three minutes before getting whistled for a third foul later in the first half.
Ivisic came into the game with 16:36 left in the second half. He had not played after halftime in any of UK’s previous three games. The 7-foot-2 freshman from Croatia finished with 11 points and seven rebounds in 12 minutes before fouling out.
The Wildcats came to Nashville after suffering two straight losses in Rupp Arena last week. Florida beat UK 94-91 in overtime last Wednesday, and the Cats fell 103-92 to Tennessee on Saturday night. This was their eighth straight win in Memorial Gym.
Kentucky was playing short-handed yet again Tuesday night, with regular starters D.J. Wagner (ankle) and Tre Mitchell (back) sidelined. Wagner missed his third straight game and fourth this season with the ankle injury, which he originally suffered against Miami on Nov. 28. UK was 0-3 in games without Wagner before Tuesday’s victory. Mitchell has been dealing with back pain recently, but this was the first game he missed this season.
Mitchell’s absence meant that Antonio Reeves and Reed Sheppard are the only two Kentucky players who have played in all 22 games this season. UK has not yet played a game with all of its players available.
Vanderbilt (6-16, 1-8 SEC) came into the game considered to be the worst team, by far, in the SEC, positioned at No. 186 nationally in the KenPom ratings. The Commodores started the day at No. 234 in the country in offensive efficiency and No. 161 in defensive efficiency. The only other SEC teams outside of the top 80 in the national ratings were Arkansas (117th) and Missouri (126th).
Vandy’s only previous win in conference play was a 68-61 home victory Saturday over Missouri, which fell to 0-9 in the SEC with that loss.
Kentucky’s next game
The Wildcats will be back in Rupp Arena on Saturday for their final nonconference game of the season, a 4 p.m. tipoff with Gonzaga. That game will be televised on CBS.
The Zags (16-6) were No. 11 in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 poll, but they have struggled relative to expectations and dropped out of the rankings last month for the first time since March 14, 2016, bringing an end to the longest active streak in the Top 25. They started the day at No. 21 in the KenPom ratings, however, six spots ahead of Kentucky.
Gonzaga is 0-5 in Quad 1 games so far this season.
This will be the second matchup in a six-game series between the two teams. Gonzaga defeated Kentucky 88-72 in Spokane last season.
This story was originally published February 6, 2024 at 10:31 PM.
