Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s impressive 91-77 win vs. Vanderbilt
Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 91-77 win vs. Vanderbilt:
1. A turnover turnaround. In Vanderbilt’s 80-55 drubbing of Kentucky on Jan. 27 in Nashville, the Commodores made a whopping nine steals, forced 15 total UK turnovers and enjoyed a robust 28-8 advantage in points off of turnovers.
In the rematch, it was a “turnover turnaround.”
Kentucky turned the ball over only three times in the first half. In building a 46-31 halftime edge, UK led the points off of turnovers 11-0.
UK’s ball security was not as tight in half two, as the Cats turned it over eight times after halftime.
For the game, Kentucky and Vanderbilt each finished with 11 turnovers, and the Cats won points off of turnovers 17-12.
2. Collin Chandler lights up Rupp Arena. The Kentucky sophomore guard scored a career-high 23 points.
Chandler was scalding from behind the 3-point arc, making 6 of 8 treys and 7 of 10 shots overall.
The six made 3-pointers matched Chandler’s college career high. He also hit six in UK’s 86-78 loss to Georgia on Feb. 17.
Chandler was only part of Kentucky’s lethal guard play.
Otega Oweh bounced back from his eight-point outing in UK’s 72-63 win at South Carolina Tuesday night with 23 points and four assists.
Denzel Aberdeen chipped in 15 points and four assists. For the second-straight game, the Florida transfer had no turnovers. The UK lead guard has now played the past four games with a combined total of one turnover.
3. Cats vs. the AP Top 25. Kentucky’s victory over No. 25 Vanderbilt improved UK to 5-7 this season against teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.
Under Mark Pope, the Wildcats are now 13-13 overall against ranked foes.
4. Oweh rising on the UK all-time scoring list. Kentucky star Otega Oweh’s 23 points give him 1,096 for his two-year UK career. (A transfer from Oklahoma, Oweh has 1,594 total career points).
On Saturday Oweh moved past Billy Ray Lickert (1,073 points) and Jeff Sheppard (1,091) and into 50th place on the all-time Kentucky scoring list.
Among players who played only two varsity seasons at Kentucky, Oweh is now the fourth all-time leading scorer behind 1. Bill Spivey, 1,213 points; 2. Antonio Reeves, 1,155; and 3. Oscar Tshiebwe 1,117.
5. Mark Pope through 65 games. With Kentucky’s victory, the UK head coach’s overall record improved to 43-22 as Wildcats head man.
This is how Pope’s mark compares to the other post-Adolph Rupp Kentucky coaches in their first 65 games:
• Tubby Smith 55-10
• John Calipari 54-11
• Eddie Sutton 50-15
• Rick Pitino 45-20
• Mark Pope 43-22
• Joe B. Hall 42-23
• Billy Gillispie 39-26
This story was originally published February 28, 2026 at 4:18 PM.
