5 things you need to know from UK’s 80-73 loss to Vanderbilt in the SEC tourney
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SEC Tournament game day: Vanderbilt 80, No. 23 Kentucky 73
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Friday night’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Vanderbilt at the SEC Tournament in Nashville, Tenn.
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Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 80-73 loss to Vanderbilt in the men’s SEC Basketball Tournament at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville:
1. Commodores cook Cats on the perimeter. The Vanderbilt backcourt dominated the game. Ezra Manjon, a 6-foot, 170-pound transfer from UC Davis, played the game of his life. Manjon hit made eight of 11 shots, two of two three-pointers and seven of eight foul shots en route to a season-high 25 points.
He also hit what was likely the pivotal shot of the game. With Vandy clinging to a 63-60 lead, Manjon beat the shot-clock by one second while rifling in a three-pointer with 6:30 left in the game to push the Commodores back up by six.
Tyrin Lawrence, who had 21 points in Vandy’s 68-66 victory over UK in Rupp Arena last week, sliced and diced the Cats again. Lawrence made seven of 12 shots, two of five treys and both his free throws to finish with 18 points.
Longtime Cats killer Jordan Wright went 6-of-13, 3-of-7, 3-of-4 and had 18 points.
Both UK and Vandy attempted 25 three-pointers, but the Commodores made 10, while the Wildcats hit six.
All too often, Kentucky defenders could not stay in front of Vandy drivers. For the second straight year, UK’s porous perimeter defense is being exploited when the games matter most.
2. Free throws, free throws, free throws. Errant Kentucky foul shooting in tournament games has been a persistent lament of the Big Blue Nation throughout the Calipari coaching era. The foul-line foibles bit the Cats again.
While Vanderbilt cashed 18 of 20 foul shots, Kentucky went 11-of-20 from the foul line.
The Wildcats’ performance was actually worse than the numbers reveal because several of the misses came late as UK was seeking to rally.
With Kentucky down 70-64, Oscar Tshiebwe missed the front end of the bonus with 3:48 left in the game.
UK was trailing 71-64 with 2:49 left when Tshiebwe misfired on the front end of a second bonus opportunity.
The Wildcats were on the short end of a 77-72 count with 37 seconds left when Jacob Toppin missed two free throws after being fouled while attempting a dunk.
3. Cason Wallace’s return. If there was a positive, Kentucky got its freshman point guard back after Wallace missed the regular-season finale at Arkansas due to a lower-leg injury suffered vs. Vanderbilt in Rupp Arena.
Wallace logged 37 minutes, making three of 10 shots and one of six three-pointers. He finished with seven points, four rebounds, five assists and one turnover.
4. Vanderbilt makes positive history, UK makes negative history. The Vanderbilt victory makes the Commodores 6-5 all-time vs. UK in the SEC Tournament.
Vandy is now the only SEC team that has a winning mark vs. UK in the league tourney.
Meanwhile, the loss means Kentucky will not advance to the SEC Tournament finals for the fourth straight tournament. That matches the longest such streak in UK men’s hoops history.
Over the past six years, Kentucky has won the SEC regular-season title one time (2019-20) and the SEC tourney championship once (2017-18).
By the measurement of SEC championships won, this will go down as an abnormally barren stretch in UK basketball history.
5. Oscar watch. Kentucky star Oscar Tshiebwe finished Friday night’s game with 19 points and 15 rebounds.
Tshiebwe now has 1,084 points in his two-season UK career, moving him past No. 51 Dirk Minniefield (1,069), No. 50 Rex Chapman (1,073) and No. 49 Billy Ray Lickert (1,076) on the all-time Kentucky scoring list. Directly ahead of Tshiebwe looking forward is No. 48 Jeff Sheppard (1,091).
Tshiebwe now has 909 career rebounds at Kentucky and is one behind seventh-place Chuck Hayes (910 career boards) on the Wildcats all-time rebounding chart.
Out of 64 games played for Kentucky, Tshiebwe now has 47 double-doubles.
This story was originally published March 11, 2023 at 12:13 AM.
