Mark Pope and the Kentucky men’s basketball team were looking forward to their SEC bye week to heal up. Instead, they came back thinner than they went in.
Starting forward Andrew Carr missed Saturday’s game at Vanderbilt with continuing back issues, and Kentucky ran into a rejuvenated Commodores team eager to bounce back from a loss at Alabama. Kentucky, looking to rebound from an Alabama loss of its own, struggled early, falling behind by 13 in the first half.
An 11-0 run to open the second half largely erased the deficit, but costly and often unforced turnovers plagued the Wildcats, especially down the stretch, and Vanderbilt walked away with a 74-69 victory in Memorial Gymnasium.
Vanderbilt was this confident. At halftime, the school made a public address announcement reminding students to stay off the court after the game. Kentucky made them sweat for much of the half, but in the end, the Commodores walked away with their second straight win in the building over a Top 10 opponent.
And the students stormed the court anyway.
It did, however, take some work. After Kentucky had built a seven-point lead with a 10-run with just over eight minutes to play, it was Vanderbilt’s turn to come back. The Commodores answered with a 9-2 run to re-take the lead, and freshman Tyler Tanner picked Lamont Butler’s pocket and streaked down the court for a layup, Vanderbilt led 66-63 with less than four minutes to play.
A free throw from Otega Owen and a three off an offensive rebound by Ainsley Almonor fixed that, and Kentucky went back up by one.
The teams traded baskets, then a three by Tyler Nickel put Vanderbilt back up 71-69 with 1:36 to play. Out of a timeout, Kentucky turned it over when Lamont Butler tried to force a pass to Amare Williams in the high post, and the ball was stolen. It was an uncharacteristically rough game for the graduate point guard, who fouled out with six points and six turnovers.
A put-back basket made Vanderbilt’s lead four, then a turnover by Oweh gave Vanderbilt the ball back and Kentucky had to foul.
After Jason Edwards made one of two free-throws, officials had to go to the monitor to see if Chris Manon called a timeout on his way out of bounds after tracking down a loose ball in the corner.
After a replay review, Kentucky was awarded the ball, down 74-69 with 23 seconds to play. But Jaxson Robinson’s contested deep three bounced off, and Kentucky could not grab the rebound.
The Wildcats finished with 17 turnovers. Vanderbilt had only five.
Vanderbilt outscored Kentucky 22-13 off the bench and 14-7 off turnovers.
Owen led Kentucky with 21 points, Almonor had 12 and Robinson 11.
There is further reason for concern for Kentucky. From Nashville, Kentucky will cross the state to face No. 6-ranked Tennessee in Knoxville on Tuesday night. Kentucky fell to 16-5 on the season, 3-3 in the SEC. Of the five losses, the Wildcats have been held in the 60s in scoring in four of them.
