Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 78-66 win over Vanderbilt
Five things you need to know from the Kentucky Wildcats’ 78-66 win over the Vanderbilt Commodores in SEC men’s basketball at Memorial Gym in Nashville:
1. Running out of superlatives for Oscar. Coming off a 29 point, 17 rebound performance vs. Georgia on Saturday, Kentucky big man Oscar Tshiebwe was every bit as good Tuesday night in Nashville.
The 6-foot-9, 255-pound Tshiebwe went for 30 points and 13 boards.
A transfer from West Virginia, Tshiebwe now has 12 double-doubles in 16 games.
Tshiebwe has been in double digits in rebounds in 14 games.
You run out of different ways to point out what a remarkable season Tshiebwe is having.
2. Cats build huge lead, then limp home. After an impressive display of hoops, Kentucky took a 78-50 lead when freshman Bryce Hopkins drained a jumper with 6:14 left in the game.
That would turn out to be the final points UK scored.
Vanderbilt ended the game on a 16-0 run.
Fortunately for the Cats, Vandy was in such a deep hole, it didn’t really matter.
But not “playing to the buzzer” took some luster off of what had been a strong showing for UK’s first road victory of the season.
3. No Sahvir Wheeler again. Kentucky was again without its starting point guard.
Wheeler, the Georgia transfer, missed his second straight game after injuring his neck while running full speed but blindly into an LSU pick early in what became UK’s 65-60 loss in Baton Rouge.
With Wheeler on the bench, freshman TyTy Washington turned in his second straight strong showing running the point.
After setting a school record with 17 assists (plus 17 points) in Kentucky’s 92-77 win over Georgia, the Phoenix product came back with 15 points, four rebounds and four assists in Nashville.
4. Defending Scotty Pippen Jr. It might not have been the plan, but Kentucky more or less employed Adolph Rupp’s old “Pete Maravich plan” against the Vanderbilt star point guard.
Rupp, famously, would allow LSU star Maravich to score all he could but have UK concentrate on stopping all the other Tigers. The plan worked, as Maravich never beat the Cats.
Pippen Jr., the son of the former Chicago Bulls star and his reality TV star ex-wife Larsa, went for 32 points, hitting 11 of 18 shots, six of 11 three-point tries and also had four assists.
Yet the remainder of the Vandy team only made 13 of 38 shots.
5. Cats extend hold over Vandy. The Kentucky victory was the Wildcats’ 11th straight over Vanderbilt. That is UK’s longest current win streak vs. an SEC opponent by a wide margin.
The other current streaks for the Cats vs. SEC teams: Alabama (lost two); Arkansas (lost one); Auburn (won one); Florida (lost one); Georgia (won one); LSU (lost one); Mississippi (lost one); Mississippi State (lost one); Missouri (won one); South Carolina (won one); Tennessee (won one); and Texas A&M (won two).
This story was originally published January 11, 2022 at 9:05 PM.
