Kentucky’s comeback attempts fall short in 74-69 road losses to Vanderbilt

Kentucky overcame almost a deficit of 14 points during the break, but too many revenue down the stretch cost wildcats.

On Saturday in Nashville, Vanderbilt Commodores (16-4; 4-3 SEC) disturbed No. 9 Kentucky (14-5; 3-3 Sec) inside the Memorial Gym with a final score of 74-69. After playing its probably worst half of the whole season to start this match, Kentucky’s attacked the building on fire in the second half. A 14 -point gap turned into a seven -point lead until Vanderbilt locked ‘Cats’ inside the final minutes and sneaked out the victory.

Kentucky was without starting forward Andrew Carr Due to a back injury, but the UK had more than enough opportunities to win this match. Thanks to them for beating back after such a terrible opening half, but a shower of bad decisions came late on a pile too high. OTEGA OWEH is not excluded from some of these mistakes, but he was the only reason the UK had a chance. He finished with 21 points (8-14 fg) and 12 rebounds for the season’s first double double.

Ansley Almonor (12 points on 4-5 3pt) and Jaxson Robinson (11 points on 3-5 3pt) were the only other wildcats that reached double digit. Kentucky shot 60 percent off the field in the second half, but 17 revenue for the match marked a seasonal height. Vanderbilt shot 12-33 from deep with only five turnovers.

The audience was perhaps most Kentucky, but the first half was mostly waterbilt. Commodores out -competed and surpassed wildcats in all aspects throughout the first 20 minutes. Vanderbilt went 7-18 from deep while forcing UK to 10 turnovers. At one point, ‘Cats’ turned the ball five times across eight balls. They had five turnovers in the last five minutes when Vanderbilt finished the half-time on a 20-4 race.

Kentucky was out of kind and completely disoriented from the opening tip. Despite 10 very quick points from Vandy’s Jason EdwardsWas the position actually close to early. ‘Cats’ even led about eight minutes back to the break. But Vanderbilt controlled every ounce of momentum from there. ‘Dores tried nine shots more in the first half (38 to 29) and made the UK look like a team that hadn’t played a single match together.

Vanderbilt took a leading 41-27 during the break – the fewest points scored in a half this season of the UK. ‘Cats’ shot 37.9 percent from the field and 4-14 from deep. Something had to change in the dressing room. Fortunately, it did early.

Kentucky opened the second half by scoring eight unanswered points in the first two minutes, forcing Vanderbilt to a timeout. From there it went to the races. At the first media break, the UK had cut the Commodore lead down to 49-44. Kentucky’s offensive attack continued as Robinson’s three-point equalized the match to 51-51 in the second media hourlyout.

ONE Lamont Butler Layup then gave ‘Cats his first lead since the middle of the first half. Kentucky went up with so many seven points as the energy of this game was turned completely upside down. It was a 31-13 race through the first 12 minutes of the second half as Kentucky went ahead 58-54. But Vanderbilt refused to go away. Some undue errors for the UK enabled ‘Dores to take a 66-63 lead to the last media time out.

The errors also continued to rise for Kentucky. A scorer in over three minutes mixed with multiple turnovers to close the game, finished every chance for one last comeback. For the first time in the entire season, ‘Cats’ have lost two games in a row. Next is another road match as the UK meets # 6, Tennessee on Tuesday. The SEC schedule only gets harder.