KSR Gameday: Kentucky hosts Vanderbilt for Senior Night in final home game of season
Good morning, folks! It’s Gameday here at KSR. Strap in for a long day.
Tonight (very late tonight, in fact), the No. 15 Kentucky Wildcats will host the Vanderbilt Commodores at Rupp Arena on the SEC Network at 9:00 p.m. EST. It’ll be Senior Night for Kentucky in what is the regular-season finale at Rupp Arena. A trio of Wildcat seniors will be recognized pregame as they jump through the paper hoop to an ovation from the Big Blue Nation.
Antonio Reeves (who also went through Senior Night last season), Tre Mitchell, and Kareem Watkins will all participate in the festivities. There’s technically a fourth senior on the roster in Winchester native Brennan Canada, but like Reeves, he went through the ceremony last season and has decided against a round two tonight.
If you plan on making the trip to Rupp tonight, I would get there about 15 minutes earlier than you usually do. Reeves, Mitchell, and Watkins deserve some extra praise. Reeves and Mitchell have been important pieces this season on the floor, but let’s not take away everything that Watkins has done behind the scenes during his four years in Lexington.
On Tuesday, all four of the seniors spoke with reporters to talk about their time at Kentucky. You can hear everything they had to say below before diving into the rest of today’s news and notes. Let’s just hope tonight’s celebration isn’t spoiled once again by the ‘Dores (at least Jordan Wright isn’t on the roster anymore).
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
Kentucky vs. Vanderbilt Odds
According to our friends at FanDuel, Kentucky opened up as a 19.5-point favorite over Vanderbilt. However, as of this morning, it’s been bet down to 17.5 with a total of 160.5. UK is 17-12 against the spread this season.
Looking at the analytics, KenPom gives Kentucky a 97 percent chance at the win with a projected final score of 89-69. BartTorvik has similar numbers, giving UK a 96 percent chance to win with a predicted final score of 91-69. ESPN’s Matchup predictor believes the ‘Cats have a 97.1 percent chance to pull off the victory.
How Kentucky can earn a double-bye
Following last night’s SEC results (Florida smacked No. 16 Alabama 105-87), there is now a path to a TWO-SEED for Kentucky in the upcoming conference tournament. All UK has to do is win its final two regular-season games against Vanderbilt and No. 4 Tennessee and they’re all but guaranteed at least a top-four seed and the double-bye that comes with it.
Below are the current SEC standings as of this morning. A win for Kentucky over Vandy would tie them with Auburn and Alabama for the three-seed with a league mark of 12-6. UK holds the tiebreakers over both. South Carolina and Tennessee also play tonight. A loss for the Gamecocks would also put them at 12-5. They own the head-to-head tiebreaker over Kentucky. It’s get crowded at the top.
| TEAM | CONFERENCE | GAMES BACK | OVERALL |
| Tennessee | 13-3 | — | 23-6 |
| South Carolina | 12-4 | 1 | 24-5 |
| Auburn | 12-5 | 1.5 | 23-7 |
| Alabama | 12-5 | 1.5 | 20-10 |
| Kentucky | 11-5 | 2 | 21-8 |
| Florida | 11-6 | 2.5 | 21-9 |
| Mississippi State | 8-8 | 5 | 19-10 |
| LSU | 8-8 | 5 | 16-13 |
| Texas A&M | 7-9 | 6 | 16-13 |
| Ole Miss | 7-10 | 6.5 | 20-10 |
| Georgia | 6-11 | 7.5 | 16-14 |
| Arkansas | 5-11 | 8 | 14-15 |
| Vanderbilt | 3-13 | 10 | 8-21 |
| Missouri | 0-17 | 13.5 | 8-22 |
Kentucky WBB kicks off the SEC Tournament
After finishing the regular season with an 11-19 overall record with a 4-12 mark within the Southeastern Conference, Kentucky women’s basketball will look to make another surprise run in the tournament. First up? The Georgia Bulldogs. Kentucky enters as the 12-seed while Georgia is the 13-seed. They’ll get the SEC Tournament rolling at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, SC this morning with tipoff set for 11:00 a.m. EST on the SEC Network.
Kentucky and Georgia have actually met before in 2023-24 — a 72-65 win for the Bulldogs in Athens. UK will be out for revenge in hopes that the season doesn’t come to an end by this afternoon. Head coach Kyra Elzy has found success in the event over the years, winning the tournament in 2022 and stealing two games in 2023. Does she have another run in her while sitting on the hot seat?
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You can check out our full preview of the matchup here. KSR’s Phoenix Stevens and Katie Hutchison will provide plenty of coverage over at KSBoard.
Got thoughts? Continue the conversation on KSBoard, the KSR Message Board. New members can try 1 month for $1.
Reed and Rob made another Donatos commercial
And this one doesn’t look like a hostage situation!
This time around, Reed Sheppard and Rob Dillingham stepped out of the creepy elevator and into the Ronald McDonald House in Lexington. The projected top 5 picks in this summer’s NBA Draft passed out their personalized pizzas and posters to kids while signing autographs in between. Rob even admitted he likes Reed’s pizzas (hot honey with banana peppers — a new favorite in my household) after initially thinking he wouldn’t.
Protect these two at all costs.
EKU lost in the ASUN first-round
Eastern Kentucky put together one of its best regular season runs in school history, winning its first conference championship in 45 years. That success didn’t translate to the ASUN Tournament though. EKU fell in the opening round last night to 10-seed Jacksonville, 67-65. Michael Moreno‘s potential game-tying put-back off a missed free throw came up just short. The Colonels will now miss out on the NCAA Tournament for the 11th straight season.
But somehow, that wasn’t even the wildest finish in the ASUN last night. That title belongs to North Alabama’s buzzer-beater over Lipscomb.
Bat ‘Cats smack EKU 10-0
It was just a bad day overall for EKU Athletics on Tuesday. Along with the basketball woes, the baseball team was blanked by Kentucky 10-0. The Wildcats move to 11-1 on the season with the win and are now one win away from tying the best start to a season in the Nick Mingione era (12-1).
Kentucky can make that happen tonight with a rematch against the Colonels. Both teams will travel back to Richmond to complete the midweek home-and-home series. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. EST.
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