Kentucky vs. Vanderbilt: Preview, Odds, How to Watch

Kentucky entered the last Vanderbilt matchup losing three of its previous four games and returned home from Nashville with a blowout victory. This time around, the Wildcats are hot with three straight wins and six of their last eight.

How will they respond facing off against a desperate Commodore team heading to Lexington as heavy underdogs? Let’s preview the matchup.

How To Watch

No. 15 Kentucky (21-8) vs. Vanderbilt (8-21)
9:00 p.m. ET | Wednesday, March 6 | Rupp Arena

• TV: SEC Network (Kevin Fitzgerald, Mark Wise)
• Streaming: WatchESPN
• Home Radio: UK Sports Network – 630 WLAP, iHeart Radio (Tom Leach, Goose Givens)
• Online Radio: iHeart
• Satellite Radio: Sirius 84 and on the SiriusXM App
• Live Stats: StatBroadcast

Last Five

Kentucky: NET 20, KenPom 18

• 2/17: 70-59 W at No. 13 Auburn
• 2/21: 75-74 L at LSU
• 2/24: 117-95 W vs. No. 13 Alabama
• 2/27: 91-89 W at Mississippi State
• 3/2: 111-102 W vs. Arkansas

Vanderbilt: NET 223, KenPom 208

• 2/17: 88-53 L at Tennessee
• 2/21: 76-64 L vs. Georgia
• 2/24: 77-64 L at Florida
• 2/27: 85-82 W at Arkansas
• 3/2: 75-61 L v. LSU

Series History

Kentucky leads the all-time series vs. Vanderbilt 156-49, with John Calipari 26-6 overall against the Commodores, including 9-2 against Jerry Stackhouse. After holding a two-game losing streak in the series — the first since 2007 — and previously winning 14 straight dating back to 2014, the Cats took care of business in the last head-to-head matchup in Nashville earlier this season.

That game took place on February 6, a 109-77 victory for Kentucky. Antonio Reeves led the way in that one with 24 points, followed by Rob Dillingham with 20, Justin Edwards with 17, Jordan Burks with 13, Aaron Bradshaw with 12 and Zvonimir Ivisic with 12 to round out double-digit scorers — and the beatdown. That was a revenge game coming off the Dores’ back-to-back wins to close out the previous season, first on Senior Night in Lexington, then again in the SEC Tournament a week later.

UK holds a 94-21 overall advantage in Lexington.

Kentucky vs. Vanderbilt Odds via FanDuel

Spread: Kentucky -17.5
Total: 161.5

One play from every win over Vanderbilt since 1995

Kentucky Projected Starters (likely to change for Senior Night)

(Starting lineup based on the last game)

#15 – DJ Wagner
6-4 • 192 • GUARD • FRESHMAN
10.6 PPG, 3.3 APG

#12 – Antonio Reeves
6-6 • 195 • GUARD • SENIOR
20.0 PPG, 4.1 RPG

#1 – Justin Edwards
6-8 • 203 • GUARD • FRESHMAN
8.7 PPG, 3.4 RPG

#4 – Adou Thiero
6-8 • 222 • GUARD • SOPHOMORE
7.9 PPG, 5.1 RPG

#2 – Ugonna Onyenso
7-1 • 226 • FORWARD • FRESHMAN
3.8 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 2.6 BPG

Head Coach: John Calipari (32nd season, 15th at UK) – 853-261 overall, 408-121 at UK

Vanderbilt Projected Starters

(Starting lineup based on the last game)

#0 – Ezra Manjon
6-0 • 170 • GUARD • SENIOR
14.3 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 3.6 APG

#0 – Tyrin Lawrence
6-4 • 200 • GUARD • SENIOR
13.7 PPG, 4.8 RPG

#10 – Jordan Williams
6-2 • 205 • GUARD • SOPHOMORE
1.5 PPG, 1.4 RPG

#12 – Evan Taylor
6-6 • 205 • GUARD • SENIOR
8.3 PPG, 3.8 RPG

#2 – Ven-Allen Lubin
6-8• 230 • FORWARD • SOPHOMORE
11.3 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 1.0 BPG

Head Coach: Jerry Stackhouse (5th season at Vanderbilt, 5th overall): 69-90 at Vandy, 27-59 SEC

Statistical Comparison

(via Kentucky’s game notes)

Fun stats from UK’s game notes:

• Three seniors: Tre Mitchell, Reeves and Kareem Watkins will participate in Senior Day vs. Vanderbilt.
• UK is still in play for a double-bye in the SEC Tournament. With two games to play, UK cannot finish any lower than sixth.
• Antonio Reeves is one of five finalists for the Jerry West Award honoring the nation’s best shooting guard. Reeves is averaging 20.0 points per game and shooting career-bests in every category. He’s scored 20 or more points in each of the team’s last five games, the longest streak for a UK player since Jamal Murray with 12 in 2016
• Kentucky played at full-strength for the first complete game of the season vs. Arkansas on Saturday.

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Pregame Storylines

SENIOR DAY FOR THREE

Brennan Canada will not go through that paper hoop despite his time in Lexington coming to a close — he’s been there and done that — but three others will. Antonio Reeves will go through festivities for a second and final time after running out of eligibility while Tre Mitchell and Kareem Watkins will go through for the first time. They’ll be joined by family members at midcourt ahead of tipoff inside Rupp Arena on Wednesday to celebrate their careers as Wildcats, Reeves and Mitchell as high-level rotation pieces.

DON’T FORGET ABOUT LAST SENIOR DAY

It was a similar lead-up last season. Kentucky defeated Vanderbilt in Nashville in the first head-to-head matchup, preparing for a feel-good win on Senior Day to close out the home schedule. And then the Commodores hit a buzzer-beater to upset the Cats, only to follow it up with yet another upset just over a week later in the SEC Tournament opener to send them home. UK took care of business at Vandy back in February and enters the home finale as an overwhelming 19.5-point favorite. Will they be able to rewrite last season’s script?

SEC TOURNAMENT SEEDING

Kentucky is out of the running to win the conference and head to Nashville as a No. 1 seed, but anything from No. 2 to No. 6 is on the table for the Cats entering the final week of the regular season. With wins over Vanderbilt and Tennessee, UK is guaranteed a double-bye for a Friday start date in the SEC Tournament next week. Go 1-1 or 0-2 and you leave things to chance, opening the door to a potential four-day path to a conference championship ahead of March Madness. Those big-picture SECT possibilities all start with a win on Wednesday.

NO MORE HEALTH QUESTIONS

For the first time all season, Kentucky enters a game with no availability questions. The Wildcats have dealt with injury, illness and availability issues all season long with only one game starting at full strength. When Tre Mitchell went down with a shoulder injury after dealing with a back issue up to that point, he was then forced to miss an additional four games before making his anticipated return vs. Arkansas. It wasn’t the production he is used to, closing with two points on 0-5 shooting with three rebounds in 16 minutes, but he made it across the finish line healthy for the Cats’ first game with a complete roster all season. Now we enter the Vanderbilt matchup expecting the same as Mitchell inches back to 100%.

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Join The Discussion on KSBoard

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Rapid Reaction on the KSR YouTube Channel

Miss the game? KSR’s got you covered with a Rapid Reaction live from Rupp Arena on the KSR YouTube Channel. We’ll also have wall-to-wall postgame coverage on the website, including highlights, comments from John Calipari and the players, stats, and takeaways.

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