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Wildcats Win Ugly Game Against Commodores 77-70
After the blowout win against the Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday, the Kentucky Wildcats hosted the Vanderbilt Commodores in their second match-up of the season. The Cats left Nashville with a 12-point victory in their previous game and defeated them again tonight 77 to 70. It was the Wildcats 11th straight victory over the Commodores and the 14th straight inside Rupp Arena.
The Big Blue Nation were eagerly to see if Shaedon Sharpe would make an appearance in this game after rumors were circulating prior to tip that he would most likely play, but the close game kept him on the bench for yet another game.
It was a slow start for the Wildcats making only 2 of their first 8 shots, but four early turnovers on Vandy kept the game close. Vandy gained a three point lead after a technical foul was called on Coach Calipari and due to a 9-0 Vandy scoring run. A corner three by Kellan Grady even the score at 18 and ended a four-minute scoring drought by the Cats.
The Wildcats continued to play well and gained a 13-point lead on a 20-4 run of their own while causing the Commodores to turn the ball over 5 times in six minutes. The Cats led by 16 at one point in the first half, but a couple late three-pointers by Vanderbilt made the halftime score 41 to 31.
Kellan Grady led the Cats in scoring with 12 points making 4 of his 5 three-pointers. It was also a good half for Davion Mintz who scored 11 points, 2 assists, and 2 rebounds. Oscar Tshiebwe grabbed nine rebounds and scored 6 first half points.
A slow start of the second half by the Wildcats allowed Vandy to pull within one. Multiple bad calls, including a flagrant foul on Tshiebwe, had the Rupp Arena crowd in an uproar for the first 4 minutes of the half. The Wildcats became more focused on both ends of the court and played off the crowd’s energy and gained an eight point lead at the 12 minute media timeout. Vanderbilt, with the help of some questionable calls, tightened the lead to only 3 with 9:30 left in the game.
The rest of the game was unbearable to watch at times. The referees missed several obvious calls and went to the monitor several times to review fouls. Also, a timeout by Vanderbilts Head Coach Jerry Stackhouse with 17 seconds left, even though the Commodores were down 9, added to the already ugly game. Despite the bad officiating, the Wildcats held on to win 77-70.
The player of the game was Davion Mintz, not only because he was the leading scorer and had the highest +/ of 14 for the Cats, but he seemed to hit the shot that stopped Vanderbilt behind. Oscar Tshiebwe had another double-double with 11 points and 17 rebounds. Kieon Brooks had his second straight good scoring game with 20 points.
The Wildcats travel to Tuscaloosa on Saturday to play Alabama and hopefully it won’t be as messy as the game tonight. The game will be at 8 pm and can be watched on ESPN.
