Key runs help Kentucky get by pesky Vanderbilt at SEC Tournament

After Texas A&M knocked off Auburn to begin the day at the SEC Tournament, an upset alert was present at Amalie Arena. Vanderbilt played its third game in three nights and gave Kentucky all the Wildcats wanted in the nightcap of the SEC Tournament.

However, John Calipari’s squad found a way to beat Vandy for the 13th consecutive time.

Despite the Commodores maintaining game control for most of the night, a few explosions by the Kentucky offense allowed the Wildcats to swing the momentum of the game and give the favorite enough cushion heading into crunch time.

Before diving into the matchup between Tennessee, KSR is taking one final look back at the win over Vanderbilt and pulling out the numbers that made the difference in the ballgame.

Multiple big runs

After falling behind 11-7 early in the first half, Kentucky came out after the first media timeout and put together a 12-0 run that would turn an early deficit into a quick lead for the Wildcats. That would be a sign of things to come throughout the night.

Once out of the locker room for the second half, Vandy quickly went on a 13-2 run to claim a 46-39 lead, but that would not last long. Kentucky came back with a 15-1 blitz over five minutes of action to claim a 55-47 lead that Kentucky would never relinquish.

However, Vanderbilt was not done. A late push trimmed Kentucky’s lead to one at the under-8 media timeout. Kentucky bounced back and responded with a 10-2 run to officially end the threat.

In the 10 four-minutes segment battles, Vanderbilt came out victorious (6-4), but it was not enough to get the win. Kentucky’s explosiveness erased deficits quickly and allowed the Big Blue to build leads in a short amount of time.

The Wildcats can be scary good when those explosive runs occur multiple times per game.

Kentucky slows down a lead guard

As the season winded down, Kentucky’s defense dealt with some issues. Seemingly every night, an opposing perimeter player gave it to the Wildcats. Most of the time it was a lead guard.

JD Notae (Arkansas) and Xavier Pinson (LSU) each had big games against the Wildcats. In the two regular-season meetings, Scotty Pippen Jr. went for 30-plus points in each outing. The All-SEC producer can get buckets and has always performed well against UK.

However, this time, Kentucky figured out a solution.

For the game, Pippen finished with 10 points on 17 shots as the junior was 1 of 10 from two-point range with three turnovers. The high usage rate player was able to dish out seven assists, but it was going to be very difficult for Vanderbilt to beat Kentucky without a big scoring night from Pippen.

For the game, Vanderbilt finished with 1.06 points per possession thanks to some secondary contributions, but that is exactly what Kentucky wanted. The Wildcats proved their defense can stop a high-volume lead guard in the SEC Tournament win. That was a question mark for the team entering the postseason.

Efficient TyTy Washington

TyTy Washington entered the postseason in a rough patch. The freshman guard hadn’t reached 15 points in a game since Feb. 5 and struggled in the season finale against Florida. Despite some rough moments against Vanderbilt, the combo guard had one of his best performances in a Kentucky jersey.

Washington finished the night with 25 points on 17 field goal attempts with a season-high four makes from behind the arc. In a 90-second segment around the six-minute mark, Washington produced eight quick points to turn a 61-58 lead into 69-60 with just over four minutes remaining.

There were a couple of bad turnovers, and Washington got off to a slow start, but the blue-chip freshman flashed the scoring potential in a big spot for the first time in weeks. That is a great sign as the postseason begins.

Stats that stood out

• Attempting 13 shots was probably about five too many, but Sahvir Wheeler stuffed the stat sheet against Vanderbilt. The junior recorded 11 assists and grabbed five rebounds as the Georgia transfer consistently impacted the game. The lead guard did a good job of forcing the tempo in the second half to give the offense some easy looks.
• Kentucky slowed down Scotty Pippen Jr., but Jordan Wright had a career night. The junior wing finished the game with 27 points on 12 shots with five makes from three-point land. Each was a career-high for the Louisiana native. Wright kept Vandy around with numerous perimeter makes in the second half, but Kentucky was fine with most of his shot attempts if it meant a bad night for Pippen.
• For the game, 55.7 percent of Kentucky’s shot attempts came from the mid-range. That is a high number. Fortunately, UK was 50 percent on those attempts getting 34 points from the middle of the floor. Vanderbilt did a great job protecting the rim, and Kentucky did not have one made dunk in the game. Jerry Stackhouse had a great defensive plan. The Commodores were a bad shooting night away from upsetting Kentucky.
• Oscar Tshiebwe finished the game with 12 points, 14 rebounds, and five blocks in 38 minutes. The junior big delivers every night.