BOX SCORE: Kentucky's defense shuts down Vanderbilt in second half

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Kentucky guard Koby Brea defends a three-point shot by Vanderbilt guard Tyler Nickel - Photo by Dr. Michael Huang, Kentucky Sports Radio

Kentucky’s defense was a massive issue for most of SEC play. The Wildcats have struggled to get stops all season and were embarrassed by Arkansas and Ole Miss. Mark Pope and his staff committed to make some changes after those losses. We’ve seen some improvement on the floor over the last three games.

The best performance came in the second half of the 82-61 win over Vanderbilt at Rupp Arena on Wednesday night.

After Vanderbilt scored 40 points on 1.29 points per possession with a 44.4 percent offensive rebound rate in the first half, the Wildcats got the clamps out after the break. Mark Byington‘s team posted just 21 points in the second half on 0.66 points per possession with a 14.3 percent offensive rebound rate and a 18.8 percent turnover rate.

Kentucky’s defense flipped the game.

Star lead guard Jason Edwards was limited to 10 points on 12 field goal attempts after scoring 18 points on 11 field goal attempts in the first meeting against Kentucky. The Commodores were just 5-of-25 (20%) from three after shooting 12-of-33 (36.4%) from three in the previous meeting. Vandy got 26 points from the five-spot but everything else was inefficient.

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Kentucky’s defense won this game. It also helps when you pour in 11 threes on offense on a 40.7 percent shooting clip from deep. The Cats got back to their normal perimeter shooting percentage after a cold performance against Texas.

The Wildcats finished the game 1.28 points per possession against the worst defense in the SEC. Otega Oweh again went for 20-plus points against Vanderbilt along with seven rebounds. Amari Williams gave Kentucky an efficient 17 points on six field goal attempts. Koby Brea (12 points) and Andrew Carr (11 points) joined them in double-digits. The Cats did not miss a free throw (13-for-13) and generated 16 assists on 29 made field goals.

Pope’s short-handed team delivered a balanced effort and it finally gave Kentucky a double-digit win over a bubble team.