SEC levies $500,000 fine on Vanderbilt for court-storming vs. No. 9 Kentucky

Vanderbilt enjoyed another upset over a ranked SEC opponent on Saturday, taking down No. 9 Kentucky. A great win for the program in Year 1 of Mark Byington, the Commodores will be paying the price for some postgame celebrations.

Fans decided to storm the court as Memorial Gymnasium, being the second occurrence in the past two weekends. But overall, it’s Vanderbilt’s third offense if you go back to football rushing the field after taking down Alabama in October. Jan. 18 against Tennessee was another court storm in Nashville — a fun way ending to an in-state rivalry game.

This means Vanderbilt has been fined $500,000 by the SEC. All future occurrences will be at the same price as well.

Per league policy, all fines are paid to the opposing program, in this case the Wildcats.

The SEC policy states “institutions shall limit access to competition areas to participating student-athletes, coaches, officials, support personnel and properly credentialed or authorized individuals at all times. For the safety of participants and spectators alike, at no time before, during or after a contest may spectators enter the competition area.”

Financial penalties for violations of the league’s access to competition area policy start at $100,000 for the first offense, then jumps to $250,000 for second offense and $500,000 for the third and all subsequent offenses.

More on Vanderbilt, upset win over Kentucky

Kentucky possesses one of the top offenses in college basketball but for the most part, was held in check by Vanderbilt. The 69 points scored was tied for the third-lowest total from Mark Pope’s team all season. Now four of the five UK losses have been when less than 70 points on the board.

Byington will have to be proud of his team’s defensive effort. Kentucky shot a solid 48% from the field but was able to force 17 turnovers. Just three Wildcats were in double figures as the usual scorers could not get in a real rhythm.

There was a lengthy winning streak for Kentucky at Memorial Gymnasium — eight games — entering Saturday, spanning back to 2016. It’s now over and Vanderbilt is the one who got to celebrate. A great win for Byington as he looks to establish his team in a highly competitive SEC.

On3’s Alex Byington contributed to this report