Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 77-70 win over Vanderbilt
Five things you need to know from the No. 5 Kentucky Wildcats’ 77-70 win over the Vanderbilt Commodores in an SEC men’s basketball game at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center:
1. Keion Brooks backs up KU breakthrough. If you wondered what Keion Brooks would do to back up his 27-point tour de force in UK’s 80-62 blowout win Saturday at then-No. 5 Kansas, the answer was come back with another stellar showing.
The 6-foot-7, 210-pound junior had a team-high 20 points, and also claimed four rebounds with two assists and a blocked shot.
More importantly, when the Kentucky offense went suddenly stale early in the second half, Brooks rode to the rescue.
The Fort Wayne, Ind., product scored 13 of his 20 points after halftime.
If Brooks continues the upward arc in his production, UK is going to be hard to handle in March.
2. A major bounce-back for Davion Mintz. In Kentucky’s four games preceding Vandy, the graduate transfer guard had made only six of 26 field-goal attempts, one of 13 three-point tries.
Against Vandy, the super-senior pulled himself out of his shooting funk in a massive way.
The former Creighton guard had his shot dialed in from the start — and finished with a season-high 21 points.
Mintz hit six of 11 field-goal tries, four of seven treys and all five of his free-throw attempts.
He also had three rebounds, two assists and two steals.
A product of Charlotte, N.C., Mintz became the sixth different Wildcats player to lead UK in scoring in the past six games.
In order, it was: TyTy Washington 28 vs. Tennessee; Sahvir Wheeler 12 at Texas A&M; Wheeler and Kellan Grady 17 each at Auburn; Oscar Tshiebwe 21 vs. Mississippi State; Brooks 27 at Kansas and now Mintz 21 vs. Vandy.
3. Pippen pummels Cats again. When Kentucky beat Vanderbilt 78-66 in Nashville last month, the Wildcats earned victory even though Vandy star guard Scotty Pippen Jr. hit the Cats with 32 points.
In the rematch, Pippen was one-point better, going for 33 points, six rebounds, five assists — and six turnovers (no one is perfect).
Interestingly, in the six career games Pippen has played against Kentucky, he has increased his point total every time.
As a freshman, Pippen had 12 points against UK in his first game, then 13 in the second.
Last season as a sophomore, Pippen went for 18 and 21.
Now, as a junior, he’s dropped 32 and 33 on the Wildcats.
Of course, for all his individual brilliance vs. UK, Pippen is 0-6 vs. the Cats.
4. A dandy dozen over Vandy. The Kentucky victory was the Wildcats’ 12th straight over Vanderbilt. That is UK’s longest current win streak vs. an SEC opponent by a wide margin.
The Commodores last beat UK on Feb. 27, 2016, in Nashville in what turned out to be the final game Kevin Stallings coached against the Wildcats.
Kentucky has now beaten Vanderbilt 14 straight in Rupp Arena.
5. Calipari vs. the SEC. With the UK victory, Kentucky now has more victories over Vanderbilt (21) in the John Calipari coaching era (since 2009-10) than any other SEC team.
In descending order by number of victories, this is the UK record under Calipari vs. all SEC foes:
Vanderbilt 21-4.
Georgia 20-3.
Florida 19-9.
Mississippi State 16-1.
Alabama 16-5.
Tennessee 16-10.
LSU 13-4.
Auburn 13-6.
Mississippi 12-2.
South Carolina 12-4.
Missouri 10-2.
Texas A&M 10-3.
Arkansas 10-5.
This story was originally published February 2, 2022 at 9:35 PM.
