1st Half
It was deja vu for fans at Rupp Arena as Vanderbilt hit three straight 3-pointers and started the game up 13-4 over Kentucky.
Nick Richards provided a minor spark after replacing Reid Travis. He threw down a dunk and forced a couple of Vanderbilt turnovers. UK closed the deficit to 19-12 with 11:58 to go in the first half.
The Commodores started to cool down from beyond the arc. Immanuel Quickley hits a couple of big three’s, including one that pulls UK to within 22-19 with 7:54 left in the opening half.
Kentucky slowly starts to close the gap with back-to-back buckets from Keldon Johnson and PJ Washington. The Wildcats now trail 27-24 with 3:37 left in the first half. They’ve trailed the entire game.
Tyler Herro tied the game up at 28 with just over a minute to play in the half, but Vanderbilt went to the locker room with a 30-28 halftime lead. No one for UK scored in double figures. Keldon Johnson led the way in the first half with 8 points on 4-6 shooting.
2nd Half
Kentucky takes its first lead of the game after a corner three by Johnson. Then Reid Travis came up with a block on the other end, leading to Ashton Hagans finishing at the rim, extending Kentucky’s lead to 35-30 with 18:19 to play in the game.
Vanderbilt, unlike the first half, started out cold shooting from the field in the second half. They opened the half shooting 1-7. Kentucky carried a 37-32 lead with 15:18 left. Johnson leading the way with 13 points thus far.
The Wildcats would get their largest lead of the game after Hagans came up with his third steal of the night and throwing it down on the other end. Kentucky holds 44-37 lead with 12:05 to play.
The Commodores aren’t going away. They’ve missed a lot of open three’s but Uk hasn’t taken much advantage on the offensive end. UK hanging on to 47-42 lead with 7:13 left.
The offense starts to pull away with about six minutes left as the defense really locked down Vanderbilt (with help of some opened missed shots by the Commodores).
Kentucky holds Vanderbilt to 17 points in the second half on its way to the 56-47 win.
