Offensive efficiency leads Kentucky to first road win

On Tuesday, Kentucky made their third true road trip of the season as the Wildcats were looking for a win for the first time. After coming up short in the last four minutes against both LSU and Notre Dame, late-game execution was not needed at Memorial Gym.

Despite not scoring in the last six-plus minutes with Vanderbilt ending the game on a 16-0 run, Kentucky still had enough cushion built to record a double-digit win. That’s not perfect, but it was required as Kentucky needed something positive to happen away from Rupp Arena.

In the 78-66 win over Vanderbilt, John Calipari improved to 21-4 against the Commodores and once again has a huge matchup coming up with Tennessee on Saturday.

Before that arrives, let’s dig into the numbers from Kentucky’s 13th win of the season.

Oscar Tshiebwe is college basketball’s best player

Ohio State forward E.J. Liddell is having an excellent season. The 6-7 junior has the Buckeyes in the Big Ten race by averaging 20.1 points and 7.2 rebounds in 30.8 minutes per game. Liddell has been outstanding, but Oscar Tshiebwe is having a better season.

The West Virginia transfer entered Tuesday night averaging 16.1 points and 15.2 rebounds in 28.9 minutes per game. Tshiebwe only bolstered those numbers against Vanderbilt.

The 255-pound big went for a career-high 30 points on 16 shots with eight makes from the free throw line. Tshiebwe again showed a nice touch from the mid-range, hit a few quick post moves, and threw down numerous thunderous dunks with a few coming from pick-and-roll action with TyTy Washington.

Tshiebwe continues to put together an All-American season and currently looks like the best player in college basketball. Meanwhile, the glass eater gobbled up 13 rebounds in 35 minutes.

Kentucky has a beast in the paint.

Precision beats slow pace

For the game, Kentucky only had 64 possessions against Vanderbilt. Head coach Jerry Stackhouse did not want his team getting into a track meet against a more athletic Kentucky squad. That seems like a logical approach.

However, the pace did not matter because Kentucky was surgical on offense finishing with 1.22 points per possession.

The Wildcats shot 53.2 percent from two on 47 attempts and 50 percent from three on 12 attempts. Kentucky got 16 buckets on dunks or layups and had a turnover rate of just 14.1 percent.

Against a middle-of-the-pack defensive team in the SEC, the Wildcats got whatever it wanted against Vanderbilt until the last six minutes of the game. Outside of the three big lineups, the offensive performance was razor-sharp for Kentucky in Nashville.

Stats that stood out

• At one point, Scotty Pippen Jr. looked like a potential transfer option for Kentucky at point guard. However, the junior decided to stay at Vanderbilt. With a long history of success against Kentucky, Pippen once again performed well against the Big Blue. The 6-3 lead guard went for 32 points on 18 field goal attempts with six makes from deep. Pippen always plays well against Kentucky and that did not change on Tuesday.
• After a slow start to the season, super senior Davion Mintz is starting to find his stroke from deep. Following a trio of threes against Vanderbilt, Mintz is now 11 of 20 from three in the last three games. That has been much-needed without Sahvir Wheeler in the lineup.
• Why was Kentucky unable to extend the lead late? Likely because the bench did not have a good day. The Wildcats got just six points off the pine on 3 of 8 shooting with a pair of turnovers. Things stalled when reserves entered the game and freshman Daimion Collins finished with a team-worst minus-13. Contributions weren’t needed against Vanderbilt, but they will be in the future.