Big Blue Preview: Kentucky at Vanderbilt
Riding a five-game winning streak, Kentucky returns to action on Tuesday night, visiting No. 18 Vanderbilt in Nashville (9 p.m, ET, ESPN).
Kentucky topped Ole Miss 72-63 on Saturday at Rupp Arena. Otega Oweh scored 20 of his 23 points in the second half in Saturday’s win, which moved the Cats to 14-6 overall and 5-2 in the Southeastern Conference.
The UK backcourt has fueled the recent five-game winning streak. Oweh is averaging 19.2 points during the stretch, while Denzel Aberdeen is scoring 16 points per contest over the last five games. Collin Chandler has also found his stroke, hitting 11 three-point shots and averaging 11.6 points per game during the winning streak.
Vanderbilt got off to a red-hot start this season, winning its first 16 games, including a victory over No. 13 Alabama in Nashville. The ‘Dores are now 17-3 on the season and 4-3 in the SEC. Vandy broke a three-game losing streak on Saturday by winning at Mississippi State 88-56. Tyler Tanner had 24 points for Vandy in the win, while Duke Miles had 17.
Four Commodores average double figures in scoring, led by Tanner, who scores 17.4 points per outing. Miles scores 16.6 points per game, while Tyler Nickel posts 14.7 per contest. Devin McGlockton averages 10.2 points and a team-high 6.7 rebounds per game.
Kentucky leads the all-time series with Vanderbilt 158-50, including a 62-28 advantage in Nashville. The teams split a pair of games last season, each winning on their home court. The Cats have won three of the last four games in the series with the Commodores.
Last Time Out
The Wildcats won their fifth straight SEC game with a 72-63 win over Ole Miss on Saturday
• It is the longest SEC win streak for Kentucky since winning the final five of the regular season in 2024
• Kentucky has won its last four games by single-digit margins, the first time UK has won four consecutive games by single digits since February of 2020
• UK limited Ole Miss to 32.3 percent shooting, the best field goal percentage against an SEC opponent under Mark Pope
• Otega Oweh scored a season-high 23 points and has scored 20 or more in five of seven SEC games
• Oweh has 20 career 20-point games for Kentucky, the fifth player over the last 20 seasons to accomplish this feat (Antonio Reeves, Patrick Patterson, Jodie Meeks, Oscar Tshiebwe)
• Oweh has 14 20-point outings against SEC opponents, the third most by a Kentucky player over the last 20 seasons behind Antonio Reeves (20) and Jamal Murray (16)
Magical Malachi
Freshman center Malachi Moreno has quickly developed into a valuable frontcourt piece for the Wildcats this season and has provided UK with its most magical moment yet.
• A native of Georgetown, Kentucky, Moreno lived out every young kid’s dream who grows up wanting to play for the instate Wildcats. With 1.9 seconds remaining and UK trailing by one point at LSU, Moreno caught a three-quarter-court pass from Collin Chandler and swiftly turned and drained a 17-foot buzzer beater to lift Kentucky to a 75-74 win.
Kentucky overcame an 18-point second-half deficit and tied a program record by overcoming a 16-point halftime deficit in the victory. Moreno had 10 points and a team-high
eight rebounds in the win, and played the final 8:56 of the game with four fouls
• He followed that performance with three points, four rebounds and a career-high-tying four blocks in the rally at Tennessee. His fourth block was the game-clinching play as Tennessee hauled in an offensive rebound off of an intentional missed free throw for the potential game-winning bucket
• Moreno scored 17 points and added eight rebounds, six assists and four steals in a statement performance against Mississippi State. He became the first 7-footer in Division I with those numbers since at least 1996-97 and just the third Kentucky player, joining Rajon Rondo and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
• Moreno had eight points, six assists, five blocks and four rebounds in the win over Texas. He’s the first Wildcat to have that stat line since Nerlens Noel in 2013
• He posted double-doubles against Valparaiso and Tennessee Tech
• He is the team’s leading rebounder at 6.4 rebounds per game and has led the squad in rebounds in 11 games. He also paces the Cats with 51 offensive rebounds, an average of 2.6 per game
• Moreno leads the team with 1.6 blocks per game. That is the seventh most in the country amongst freshmen
• Moreno owns a .594 field-goal percentage, the top mark on the team
• In SEC games, Moreno is averaging 8.0 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 2.1 blocks per game, while shooting 55.6% from the floor
• He has a team-high 35 dunks this season
