Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s SEC Tournament win over Vanderbilt
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Game day: No. 5 Kentucky 77, Vanderbilt 71
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 Tampa, Fla.
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Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s 77-71 victory over the Vanderbilt Commodores in a quarterfinal game of the SEC Basketball Tournament on Friday.
1. What better way to start the postseason
No sense just putting your foot into the postseason pool when you can dive right into the deep end. When Kentucky played Vanderbilt at Rupp Arena back on Feb. 12, the Commodores used a physical style of play that gave John Calipari’s club problems. It was the same here on Friday. Right from the start.
In fact, less than two minutes into the game, UK freshman guard TyTy Washington took a nasty spill to the floor in which it looked as if he might have hit his head. Washington got back up, shook his head, grabbed his elbow and — with BBN holding its collective breath — kept right on playing.
And boy did he play, especially at the end. With the Cats clinging to a 61-58 lead with 6:02 left, Washington buried a three-pointer from the right corner. Next possession, he drilled another three-pointer from the right corner. Next possession, he scored inside off an assist from backcourt mate Sahvir Wheeler and Kentucky was up 69-60.
In all, Washington scored 25 points, going 8-for-17 from the floor. He credited his teammates and coaches with urging him to play through bumps.
“I know how good he is,” Calipari said afterward. “My concern with him, guys that are young they don’t know how to play through bumps. If you’re not going to be physical driving, don’t drive, pass the ball. But he’s skilled.”
“He hit some big baskets when they needed them,” Vandy head coach Jerry Stackhouse said.
All night, Kentucky had to play through bumps. But it says here that was a good thing. The Cats are going to see much more of that on this March road up to and through Madness.
“Coach told us before the game, this is going to be the hardest game,” Wheeler said. “We wanted this, we welcomed it. It’s not always going to be a 20-point win.”
2. Who was that masked man?
Said Calipari afterward, “I thought Davion and Jacob were the difference-makers in the game.”
That would be Davion Mintz, who came off the bench to score 10 points and dish five assists. And that would be Jacob Toppin, who might have suffered a broken nose in the first half, returned wearing a mask for the second half and finished with 10 points, three blocked shots and two rebounds.
“I thought his energy really helped them,” Stackhouse said of Toppin.
Indeed, the 6-foot-8 forward was all over the floor, causing havoc on the defensive end, grabbing loose balls on the offensive side. In the first half, Toppin came out of nowhere to block a Vanderbilt shot in one of the more impressive UK blocks this season. “Some of those were ridiculous,” Calipari said.
Wheeler also credited Toppin’s energy, saying, “He was talking. (With the mask) you could barely understand him, but you knew he was saying something.”
3. Next up is the rubber match with Tennessee
The Cats blitzed the Vols in Rupp Arena. One month later, Tennessee “beat our brains in,” said Calipari, on Rocky Top. Round three is an SEC semifinal game at 3:30 p.m. at Amalie Arena.
Tennessee is playing well. The Vols have won 10 of their last 11, including the 72-59 victory over Mississippi State in Friday night’s quarterfinals. Rick Barnes appears to have hit on the right rotation and he has three excellent ball-handlers in Santiago Vescovi, Kennedy Chandler and Zakai Zeigler.
Kentucky has three excellent ball-handlers as well in Wheeler, Washington and Mintz. The difference Friday was the job UK did on Vandy’s ball-handler, Scotty Pippen Jr., who had scored 65 points in two regular-season games against the Wildcats. Friday night, Pippen was held to just 10 points. He went 2-for-17 from the floor and missed six of his seven three-point shots.
“I’ll give credit to them,” Pippen said afterward. “They had a good game on me. But we had three games in three days and I think that had an effect on me. Tired legs.”
“He didn’t have his best night tonight,” said Stackhouse, who did get 27 points from Lawrence Wright. “In that situation playing against that caliber of team, your best players have to play well. This wasn’t one of his best nights.”
As the No. 2 seed, Tennessee will be playing its second game in two days, just like Kentucky. But it will take a similar defensive effort from the Cats to make it to Sunday’s finals.
This story was originally published March 11, 2022 at 11:42 PM.
