Kentucky guard Tyrese Maxey scored 25 points and four rebounds, leading the Kentucky Wildcats past the Vanderbilt Commodores 78-64 at Memorial Gym in Nashville, Tennessee on Tuesday night.
RED-HOT FROM THREE IN THE FIRST HALF
The Commodores went into halftime holding a 36-27 lead thanks in large part to their success behind the three-point line. VU went 13 of 34 from the field in the first twenty minutes, with eight of those makes coming beyond the arc.
Dylan Disu nailed three of four attempts for nine first-half points with Maxwell Evans going two of five from deep. Saben Lee, Scotty Pippen, Jr., and Braelee Albert each knocked down one three-pointer in the first half.
The Commodores knocked down just 3 of 11 attempts in the second half.
THE RUN THAT DOOMED THE DORES
Midway through the second half, Kentucky went on an 18-2, scoring 11 straight at one point. In the midst of that run, the Wildcats grabbed their first lead on a Tyrese Maxey layup at the 11:16 mark to put Kentucky up 48-46. It was a lead they would never relinquish.
HEART, EFFORT, GRIT
After grabbing their first lead of the game midway through the second half, the Wildcats expanded their advantage to 59-48 with 6:11 remaining. Vanderbilt was clearly running out of steam and could have folded, instead, they fought back.
A Jordan Wright layup with 4:17 remaining cut the Commodores' deficit to five at 62-57, but two Immanuel Quickley three-pointers and an Ashton Hagans layup coming out of the under four timeout was the final nail in coffin for Vandy.
FREE-THROW WOES
Vanderbilt head coach Jerry Stackhouse mentioned the poor display of foul shooting in the post game presser on Tuesday night. In a game where the Commodores could use every point they could get in trying to stave off a second half surge from Kentucky, they simply couldn't make the free ones. The Commodores were an abysmal 9 of 17 from the charity stripe, a 53% clip.
ANOTHER DOUBLE-DOUBLE FOR DISU
With 12 points and 10 rebounds, freshman Dylan Disu notched his fourth double-double of the season. It was also his seventh game in double figures. The Texas native was four of seven from three-point range on the night.
CALIPARI ON STACKHOUSE AND VANDY:
Kentucky head coach John Calipari was asked to give his thoughts on Jerry Stackhouse and Vanderbilt after playing them twice this season, this is what he had to say:
"They've gotten better and they've been injured. What he has done is teach these guard to play pick and roll - hi, low, inside, out - to get to your right hand. He's teaching these kids how to play basketball."
"The other thing he's doing is, they are spacing the court. They are doing great stride stops and ball fakes to get you in trouble. If they are making three's, they are going to beat you. They were up on Mississippi State, they were up twice on us at the half. They beat LSU. I wouldn't want to be playing Vandy anymore."
"It's obvious he has a great connection with his players because they are fighting for him."
