Kentucky looked to redeem itself after the disgusting effort they gave down in Knoxville and try to save what little bit of post season hopes that remained. All that stood in their way was the Vanderbilt Commodores and themselves.
To start the game we learn that one of the refs was named John Cal, interesting...
Ryan Harrow must have done some things right as he earned back his starting spot from Jarrod Polson. Vandy opened the scoring with a uncontested 3, I'm sure that's not what Calipari wanted to start the game. Archie Goodwin scored the first bucket for the Cats with a nice drive to the basket and after a stop on the other end, the Cats scored on a thunderous dunk by Alex Poythress. It was good to see these two get going early. Out of the gate, the energy level was way higher than at any point of the Tennessee game, something they will have to maintain the rest of the season. The intense defense that was missing in Knoxville showed up early in the first half tonight. Guys were all over the floor, deflecting passes and getting to loose balls. At the first timeout, Kentucky led 10-9 thanks in large part to some excellent basketball being played by the two guys who haven't shown up most of the season, Archie Goodwin and Alex Poythress.
Willie Cauley-Stein looked good early, fighting for rebounds and making some nice post moves for a score or to find the open man. The first few minutes of this one is what Kentucky fans have been begging for all season long. Ryan Harrow, someone who hadn't scored in the last three games, scored on two straight possessions. I guess benching him against Tennessee in favor of Polson worked like Cal hoped it would. The first half was the most aggressive this team has played all season long. I never thought I would be glad to see a technical, but that is exactly how I felt when Cauley-Stein got T'd up for slapping the backboard after dunking the ball off an alley-oop from Julius Mays. I didn't mind the "T" as it showed something this team has been missing, emotion and excitement.
With 11:56 left in the first, Vandy called a timeout as Kentucky took its largest lead up to that point at 18-9. If the Cats could only sustain the effort they had in the first half, no one in the SEC outside of Florida could beat this team, but we know how well they sustain effort from game to game. At the 10:29 mark, Vandy was forced to call a timeout when a run was sparked after Jarod Polson nailed a 3 from the corner that led to Kentucky storming out to a 23-9 lead. They played with a lot of energy and confidence, the looks on their faces, were looks of guys having fun... finally.
Vandy mixed up their defense many many times, playing zone (2-3 and 1-3-1), man to man and just about anything else Kevin Stallings could throw out there, but nothing seemed to work as Kentucky executed their offense as well as they had all season. At the 7:40 mark, Kentucky had outscored Vandy in the paint 18-4 while committing just one turnover. A huge improvement over recent games.
Rod Odom of Vanderbilt caught fire in the first half connecting on 4-4 from three going for 14 points, that was with 6:24 left in the half. Kentucky's perimeter defense still needs a little work, obviously.
Kentucky went to the break with a 42-34 lead and played as well in the first half tonight as they had at any point this season...
FIRST HALF STATS:
POLSON: 3PTS, 2REBS, 1AST
GOODWIN: 12PTS, 1REB
WILTJER: 3PTS, 1REB, 2BLKS
MAYS: 0PTS, 3REBS, 4ASTS
HARROW: 10PTS, 2REBS, 3ASTS
CAULEY-STEIN: 12PTS, 2REBS, 1BLK,
POYTHRESS: 2PTS, 1REB
The only stats that was a negative in the first half was the fact that Poythress once again picked up two early fouls that limited his production and horrible freethrow shooting, as usual. He has struggled with that all season long, but is something he is going to have to work on going forward.
Even Nerlens Noel showed up to encourage the Wildcats tonight... Good to see him up and moving around... NOT TO MENTION FORMER CAT JOSH HARRELSON WAS RECOGNIZED BY BEING THE TRADITIONAL "Y" AT HALFTIME.
The Cats began the second half with a offensive rebound and put back by Cauley-Stein, he has improved tremendously since Knoxville. If he can keep up the improvement (especially with the loss of Noel) he made in this little amount of time, things begin to look brighter for the Cats moving forward.
At the 16:09 mark, the old man of the team, Julius Mays buried his first three of the game just as the shot-clock buzzer sounded to give Kentucky a 49-37 lead and forced another Vandy timeout. Don't get me wrong, there's still things this team needs to improve on, but the difference from Knoxville to tonight is obvious. It makes one wonder if Kentucky wasn't just shocked to be playing without the nations leading shot blocker in Nerlens Noel. If they can get their heads on straight, they can end this season on a very positive note.
There was also a striking difference in this game against Vandy and the last, Kyle Wiltjer's defense. Things wasn't as easy this go around for whoever Wiltjer was guarding as he played some tough defense for most of the night. He's another one that Kentucky will need to step up as the season winds down, especially on the defensive end of things.
At the 11:09 timeout, Kentucky led by twelve 57-45 and for maybe the first time all season gave the home crowd something to get excited about. Every guy that stepped on the floor contributed in some way, shape or form. That's something that I can say with certainty hasn't happened very much, if at all this season. They were just fun to watch, showed effort on defense, passion and determination on offense. Not to be a downer, but what would this season been like had they played with this type of effort every minute of every game this season? We wouldn't be worrying about making the tournament I promise you that.
With 3:53 to go in the game, Vandy made a run and cut the Cats' lead to 61-59 after some break downs on defense. These guys have got to learn how to close out a game if they expect to beat teams of the caliber of Missouri or Florida. With that said, Julius Mays drains a three from the corner to give Kentucky a 64-59 lead at the final media timeout with 3:01 to go.
Vandy starter and leading rebounder, Kevin Bright was ejected along with another player for Vandy when they left the bench and came onto the floor when a little scuffle broke out between Ryan Harrow and Josh Henderson who had been going at each other all night long. I'm not real sure an ejection was warranted, but it is the rule regardless, that falls on the coaching staff.
With Kentucky's lead being cut to 70-65 and 35 seconds to go, Willie Cauley-Stein blocked a Vandy shot that made the Rupp Arena crowd forget about Nerlens Noel for the briefest of moments as they were looking at their center for the rest of the season and hoping this was a sign of things to come.
The final score was 74-70 as Kentucky showed the effort and passion that I'm sure Cal and Kentucky fans nation wide was hoping for...
BOX-SCORE and POST GAME QUOTES TO COME SOON...
Ryan Harrow must have done some things right as he earned back his starting spot from Jarrod Polson. Vandy opened the scoring with a uncontested 3, I'm sure that's not what Calipari wanted to start the game. Archie Goodwin scored the first bucket for the Cats with a nice drive to the basket and after a stop on the other end, the Cats scored on a thunderous dunk by Alex Poythress. It was good to see these two get going early. Out of the gate, the energy level was way higher than at any point of the Tennessee game, something they will have to maintain the rest of the season. The intense defense that was missing in Knoxville showed up early in the first half tonight. Guys were all over the floor, deflecting passes and getting to loose balls. At the first timeout, Kentucky led 10-9 thanks in large part to some excellent basketball being played by the two guys who haven't shown up most of the season, Archie Goodwin and Alex Poythress.
Willie Cauley-Stein looked good early, fighting for rebounds and making some nice post moves for a score or to find the open man. The first few minutes of this one is what Kentucky fans have been begging for all season long. Ryan Harrow, someone who hadn't scored in the last three games, scored on two straight possessions. I guess benching him against Tennessee in favor of Polson worked like Cal hoped it would. The first half was the most aggressive this team has played all season long. I never thought I would be glad to see a technical, but that is exactly how I felt when Cauley-Stein got T'd up for slapping the backboard after dunking the ball off an alley-oop from Julius Mays. I didn't mind the "T" as it showed something this team has been missing, emotion and excitement.
With 11:56 left in the first, Vandy called a timeout as Kentucky took its largest lead up to that point at 18-9. If the Cats could only sustain the effort they had in the first half, no one in the SEC outside of Florida could beat this team, but we know how well they sustain effort from game to game. At the 10:29 mark, Vandy was forced to call a timeout when a run was sparked after Jarod Polson nailed a 3 from the corner that led to Kentucky storming out to a 23-9 lead. They played with a lot of energy and confidence, the looks on their faces, were looks of guys having fun... finally.
Vandy mixed up their defense many many times, playing zone (2-3 and 1-3-1), man to man and just about anything else Kevin Stallings could throw out there, but nothing seemed to work as Kentucky executed their offense as well as they had all season. At the 7:40 mark, Kentucky had outscored Vandy in the paint 18-4 while committing just one turnover. A huge improvement over recent games.
Rod Odom of Vanderbilt caught fire in the first half connecting on 4-4 from three going for 14 points, that was with 6:24 left in the half. Kentucky's perimeter defense still needs a little work, obviously.
Kentucky went to the break with a 42-34 lead and played as well in the first half tonight as they had at any point this season...
FIRST HALF STATS:
POLSON: 3PTS, 2REBS, 1AST
GOODWIN: 12PTS, 1REB
WILTJER: 3PTS, 1REB, 2BLKS
MAYS: 0PTS, 3REBS, 4ASTS
HARROW: 10PTS, 2REBS, 3ASTS
CAULEY-STEIN: 12PTS, 2REBS, 1BLK,
POYTHRESS: 2PTS, 1REB
The only stats that was a negative in the first half was the fact that Poythress once again picked up two early fouls that limited his production and horrible freethrow shooting, as usual. He has struggled with that all season long, but is something he is going to have to work on going forward.
Even Nerlens Noel showed up to encourage the Wildcats tonight... Good to see him up and moving around... NOT TO MENTION FORMER CAT JOSH HARRELSON WAS RECOGNIZED BY BEING THE TRADITIONAL "Y" AT HALFTIME.
(Photo courtesy of Matt Jones; KSR)
At the 16:09 mark, the old man of the team, Julius Mays buried his first three of the game just as the shot-clock buzzer sounded to give Kentucky a 49-37 lead and forced another Vandy timeout. Don't get me wrong, there's still things this team needs to improve on, but the difference from Knoxville to tonight is obvious. It makes one wonder if Kentucky wasn't just shocked to be playing without the nations leading shot blocker in Nerlens Noel. If they can get their heads on straight, they can end this season on a very positive note.
There was also a striking difference in this game against Vandy and the last, Kyle Wiltjer's defense. Things wasn't as easy this go around for whoever Wiltjer was guarding as he played some tough defense for most of the night. He's another one that Kentucky will need to step up as the season winds down, especially on the defensive end of things.
At the 11:09 timeout, Kentucky led by twelve 57-45 and for maybe the first time all season gave the home crowd something to get excited about. Every guy that stepped on the floor contributed in some way, shape or form. That's something that I can say with certainty hasn't happened very much, if at all this season. They were just fun to watch, showed effort on defense, passion and determination on offense. Not to be a downer, but what would this season been like had they played with this type of effort every minute of every game this season? We wouldn't be worrying about making the tournament I promise you that.
With 3:53 to go in the game, Vandy made a run and cut the Cats' lead to 61-59 after some break downs on defense. These guys have got to learn how to close out a game if they expect to beat teams of the caliber of Missouri or Florida. With that said, Julius Mays drains a three from the corner to give Kentucky a 64-59 lead at the final media timeout with 3:01 to go.
Vandy starter and leading rebounder, Kevin Bright was ejected along with another player for Vandy when they left the bench and came onto the floor when a little scuffle broke out between Ryan Harrow and Josh Henderson who had been going at each other all night long. I'm not real sure an ejection was warranted, but it is the rule regardless, that falls on the coaching staff.
With Kentucky's lead being cut to 70-65 and 35 seconds to go, Willie Cauley-Stein blocked a Vandy shot that made the Rupp Arena crowd forget about Nerlens Noel for the briefest of moments as they were looking at their center for the rest of the season and hoping this was a sign of things to come.
The final score was 74-70 as Kentucky showed the effort and passion that I'm sure Cal and Kentucky fans nation wide was hoping for...
BOX-SCORE and POST GAME QUOTES TO COME SOON...
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