Jerry Stackhouse 'didn't have the energy' to get upset about Kentucky walk-on shooting at end of game

No. 17 Kentucky spanked Vanderbilt on Tuesday night, winning 109-77. But one moment late in the game involving Wildcats walk-on Kareem Watkins immediately became a talking point.

With six seconds remaining in the game and Kentucky leading by 32 points, Watkins turned and fired a 3-point attempt.

That’s the kind of thing that can lead to an immediate dust-up, as it’s viewed as a poor show of sportsmanship. But Vanderbilt coach Jerry Stackhouse was asked about the incident after the game and was mostly nonplussed.

“Kid got in, probably a kid who very, very rarely gets in the game,” Stackhouse said. “And he had an opportunity to make a shot. Maybe another day I would have been (mad), but just didn’t have the energy for it tonight.”

Watkins missed the shot, perhaps saving any added insult to injury that could have sparked issues between the two teams.

And Stackhouse, as he noted, had his energy focused in other directions. He was not happy with the officiating and let people know after the game.

“My energy was more at the officials,” Stackhouse said. “I thought the game kind of got away from them again. Same three officials that were here against Tennessee and kind of the same thing. Just felt like there was no consistency. That’s all you want in a game is just consistency, and I didn’t feel like they were consistent that night nor were they consistent tonight.”

If anything, Vanderbilt seemed to be the beneficiary of most of the whistles. Kentucky was called for 19 fouls, while Vanderbilt was called for only 10.

The Commodores went to the free-throw line 30 times, compared to just 12 for the Wildcats.

Still, the end result was another lopsided loss for Vanderbilt, which had finally recently snapped a long losing skid. The Commodores had beaten Missouri over the weekend to snap seven-game SEC losing streak.

Instead of a potential big upset win over Kentucky, Vanderbilt took another loss and has now lost 12 of its last 14 games.

Vanderbilt will look to bounce back with its next contest on the road at No. 15 South Carolina on Saturday. The game will tip off at 1 p.m. ET on the SEC Network.