Kentucky to test new winning formula against No. 15 Vanderbilt
Kentucky looks to extend a five-game league winning streak when it travels to No. 15 Vanderbilt on Tuesday night in Nashville.
The banged-up Wildcats (14-6, 5-2 Southeastern Conference) scored a 72-63 home win over Ole Miss on Saturday despite playing without key players in starting point guard Jaland Lowe and forwards Kam Williams and Jayden Quaintance. Otega Oweh, a senior guard who has averaged 19.7 points in league games and 16.1 for 20 games overall, scored 23 in the win.
Coach Mark Pope, who gave double-digit minutes to nine players, lauded his team for its toughness and unselfishness.
"What we have right now is we have guys making winning plays," Pope said. "So, we have guys that are falling in love with making the dirty, non-scoring, massively important winning plays of the game. We have guys stepping up and doing that all over the place, and it's why we've had so much success in all these close games, and it's because guys are falling in love with it."
Vanderbilt (17-3, 4-3) snapped a three-game losing streak with an 88-56 win at Mississippi State on Saturday. The Commodores played without one of their top three guards in Frankie Collins, but Tyler Tanner (24 points, five assists) and Duke Miles (17 points, seven steals) more than picked up the slack.
Vanderbilt had been awful defensively in that three-game skid, allowing 80 points to Texas, 98 to Florida and 93 to Arkansas in a 25-point loss. Coach Mark Byington, who called the Jan. 20 performance against Arkansas "embarrassing," was thrilled with how the team held MSU's Josh Hubbard -- then the SEC's leading scorer -- to seven points on Saturday to drop his average to 21 per game.
"Our activity was great," Byington said. "Our defense was really locked in today, and (Mississippi State has) some talented offensive players. The SEC's leading scorer in the league, he's tough to guard. Our guys' approach to the game was really good."
Kentucky's Lowe (season-ending shoulder injury) and Williams (broken foot) are out, and Quaintance (knee) likely won't be available for Wednesday's game. But Vanderbilt's Collins, who averaged 7.8 points, 20.9 minutes and 2.4 steals over nine games, might play after missing the last nine games with a meniscus injury.
Collins, Tanner (17.4 ppg, 2.4 spg) and Miles (16.6 ppg, 2.8 spg) are disruptive defenders who can get the Commodores easy buckets in transition off turnovers.
That presents a challenge for Kentucky and point guard Denzel Aberdeen, who's turned it over just seven times compared to 16 assists over the five-game winning streak.
The Wildcats weren't a good defensive team earlier in the year, but they have gotten there thanks to slowing tempo (18.4 seconds per defensive possession for the 341st slowest nationally, per KenPom) and a 16.6% defensive turnover rate in league games.
Vanderbilt is elite at protecting the ball (11.0% turnover rate in SEC games) but has struggled against bigger teams. That makes Kentucky's 7-foot Malachi Moreno, 6-11 Andrija Jelavic and 6-10 Brandon Garrison, who combined to play more than 58 minutes vs. Ole Miss, players to watch.
Should Kentucky slow the pace to a half-court game, Vanderbilt's Tyler Nickel (14.7 ppg, 46.3% on 3s) is a player to watch along with Tanner (40.2%).
The Wildcats aren't a good outside-shooting team, but Oweh (33.3% on 3-pointers), Collin Chandler (40.4%) and Aberdeen (36.8%) have had some success from distance.