7 things you need to know from Kentucky’s 68-66 Senior Night loss to Vanderbilt
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Game day: Vanderbilt 68, Kentucky 66
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Wednesday’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Vanderbilt in Rupp Arena.
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Seven things you need to know from Kentucky’s 68-66 Senior Night loss to Vanderbilt at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center:
1. A microcosm of the UK season in one loss. The home-court defeat to Vandy, in many ways, symbolized what has been a star-crossed Kentucky season. Throughout the 2022-23 campaign, when UK seems to have things figured out, the Cats then seem to hit unexpected adversity.
The Wildcats had UK backers feeling good after running off four straight victories, capped by a blowout victory over Auburn on Saturday. So the Cats suffered through a horrid shooting night against Vanderbilt, making only 19 of 59 on field-goal tries and three of 19 three-pointers. UK missed 10 free throws, too, going 25-of-35.
Kentucky also played the final 18:09 of the game without a true point guard. Sahvir Wheeler missed his seventh straight game due to what John Calipari described as “a medical procedure” Wednesday.
Freshman Cason Wallace left the game with 18:09 remaining in the second half after suffering an apparent lower-leg injury.
Down 46-35 early in the second half, Kentucky fought and even pulled ahead, 66-64, with 1:08 left on an Oscar Tshiebwe 6-footer.
That was when a longtime UK nemesis got the Cats a final time.
2. Vandy had the “Wright” stuff. In last season’s SEC Tournament quarterfinals, Vanderbilt wing Jordan Wright torched the Wildcats for 27 points even as the Cats escaped with a 77-71 win.
On Wednesday night, Wright took it to Kentucky again. The 6-foot-6, 220-pound senior had a game-high 23 points.
Just as it looked like Kentucky might pull the game out, Wright ripped it away.
He drove baseline for a layup with 42 seconds left to tie the game at 66.
After UK’s Antonio Reeves missed a jumper with 19.9 seconds left, Wright hit what became the game winner for Vandy on an 8-foot fallaway in the lane with 2.6 seconds left.
Reeves actually had a good look at a three-pointer from the right wing just ahead of the final buzzer, but left it short.
3. The status of Wallace. Suffice to say, it’s hard to envision Kentucky making any kind of run in March Madness without Cason Wallace at the controls.
The good news was that, after the game, John Calipari told the media that X-rays on Wallace were negative. The UK coach said he was unsure if Wallace would be available for Saturday’s regular-season finale at Arkansas.
4. Commodores end long losing streak vs. Cats. Vanderbilt’s victory snapped a 14-game losing skid for Vandy vs. Kentucky.
Before Wednesday night, the last win for the Commodores over the Wildcats came during the final season of the Kevin Stallings coaching era (2015-16) on Feb. 27, 2016, a 74-62 Vandy victory before 14,326 fans at Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville.
5. Senior Night spoiled. Vanderbilt’s upset gave John Calipari his third loss in the past four senior send-off games at Rupp Arena.
Calipari and UK also lost on Senior Night/Day to Tennessee (81-73) in 2019-20 and Florida (71-67) in 2020-21.
Since Rupp Arena opened in 1976-77, UK is now 41-6 in Senior Night/Day games.
By coach, Joe B. Hall went 9-0, Eddie Sutton 4-0, Rick Pitino 7-1, Tubby Smith 9-1, Billy Gillispie 1-1, and Calipari is 11-3.
6. Ten-loss Cal. With Vanderbilt’s win, Kentucky’s season record falls to 20-10. It is the fifth double-digit loss season in Calipari’s UK coaching tenure (since 2009-10). Five seasons with at least 10 losses ties Tubby Smith for the most in UK history.
In addition to this season, Calipari-coached Kentucky teams went 21-12 in 2012-13, 29-11 in 2013-14, 26-11 in 2017-18, and 9-16 in 2020-21.
Of course, the 2013-14 season saw UK reach the NCAA Tournament finals. The 2017-18 season saw the Wildcats win the SEC Tournament and reach the NCAA tourney round of 16.
The moral being that not all seasons with double-digit losses end up as full-on disappointments.
7. Oscar watch. The double-double of 21 points and 20 rebounds from Kentucky star Oscar Tshiebwe moved the senior big man to 1,053 points and 881 rebounds for his two-year UK career.
Tshiebwe moved past Jim Line (1,041), and tied Erik Daniels (1,053) for 54th on the all-time Kentucky scoring list. Next ahead of Tshiebwe in the UK record book are Jamaal Magloire and Terrence Jones (both 1,064), who are tied for No. 52.
On the all-time Kentucky rebounding chart, Tshiebwe is chasing seventh-place Chuck Hayes (910 career boards).
Of his 62 games in UK blue and white, Tshiebwe has produced a double-double 45 times.
This story was originally published March 1, 2023 at 9:31 PM.
