Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 77-74 win over Vanderbilt
Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 77-74 win over Vanderbilt on Tuesday at Rupp Arena in downtown Lexington:
1. Transfers come up big for Cats. Olivier Sarr played like the guy who closed out the season so strong for Wake Forest last year.
The 7-foot center lived at the foul line, attempting 17 free throws and making 14 (though he did have two crucial misses with 2:29 left in the game).
Sarr accumulated 24 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots before fouling out with 1:03 left in the game.
With Sarr on the bench and the game tied at 74, Creighton graduate transfer Davion Mintz buried a cold-blooded three-pointer from the deep left corner with 47 seconds left that won the game for UK.
Mintz finished with 11 points, three rebounds and two assists.
Finally, Rhode Island transfer Jacob Toppin took on the defensive assignment of guarding Vanderbilt star Scottie Pippen Jr. The 6-9 Toppin seemed to bother Pippen (18 points, eight rebounds, eight assists) just enough to allow the Cats to escape.
Toppin also chipped in six points and six rebounds.
2. Dontaie’s encore. Coming off his tour de force (8-of-13 shooting, 7-of-11 treys, 23 points), Dontaine Allen followed it up with another solid showing.
John Calipari inserted the former Pendleton County star into the game with 17 minutes left in the first half and Allen went on to log 32 minutes of playing time.
If not quite as scalding hot as in Starkville, Allen was still effective. He scored 14 points on 4-of-10 shooting, 2-of-5 treys. Aided by a lane violation that negated a miss, Allen went 4-of-4 from the foul line.
For the second straight game, Allen contributed in ways other than scoring. He had five rebounds vs. Vandy, a boost UK needed in a game in which it was outrebounded 42-29.
3. UK finds its touch at the foul line. In its prior three games combined, Kentucky had made only 58.3 percent (35-of-60) from the line.
But locked in a duel with Vandy that was not decided until the Commodores’ final three-point try missed just ahead of the final buzzer, the Cats were lethal from the free-throw line.
UK got to the stripe 32 times, and cashed 26.
For a team that had been struggling so, Kentucky — amazingly — won the game from the free-throw line.
4. Cats avert an unhappy first. Kentucky averted its first three-game losing streak in games played inside Rupp Arena — which opened with the 1976-77 season — ever.
After beating Morehead State 81-45 in Rupp on Nov. 25 in the season opener, UK lost back-to-back home games to Richmond, 76-64 on Nov. 29, and Notre Dame, 64-63 on Dec. 12.
5. UK extends streak. Kentucky has now beaten Vanderbilt nine straight times. That is only the fourth-longest active win streak for Kentucky vs. a Southeastern Conference foe.
A rundown of the current streaks for the Wildcats vs. the other 13 SEC basketball teams:
UK win streaks: Alabama (two straight); Arkansas (eight straight); Auburn (one in a row); Florida (four straight); Georgia (14 straight); LSU (one straight); Mississippi (11 straight); Mississippi State (15 straight); Missouri (three straight); Texas A&M (two straight); Vanderbilt (nine straight).
UK losing streaks: South Carolina (one in a row); Tennessee (one).
This story was originally published January 5, 2021 at 9:20 PM.
