Trip to Vandy Brings Latest Set of Unknowns for UK
The plan was set. Kentucky was going to take a short flight on Friday morning to dodge winter weather and get the Wildcats to Nashville ahead of a matchup with Vanderbilt.
Then the plan changed. That winter weather was threatening the flight and the team couldn’t take the chance of not making it to the Music City in time.
In the blink of an eye, a flight on Friday morning turned into a bus ride on Thursday night.
“So, we just decided at 7 o’clock we’re leaving at 8:30,” John Calipari said from Nashville. “So we gathered up the guys and we just got in the bus and got up here around 11:30.”
It was a fitting start to a trip that will culminate with a matchup against the Commodores in which the No. 21/20 Wildcats (13-3, 3-1 Southeastern Conference) will need to be ready for anything and everything.
 |
||
| Kentucky at Vanderbilt | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Sat., Jan. 12 – 4 p.m. ET |
||
| Coverage | ||
|
TV: ESPN |
||
| UK | 2017-18 Team Stats | VU |
| 13-3 | Record | 6-10 |
| 3-1 | Conference Record | 1-3 |
| 78.6 | PPG | 71.8 |
| 69.8 | Opp PPG | 71.1 |
| .486 | FG% | .416 |
| .411 | Opp FG% | .434 |
| 38.5 | RPG | 36.0 |
| .365 | 3PT FG% | .333 |
| .298 | Opp 3PT FG% | .324 |
| .682 | FT% | .734 |
| 15.0 | APG | 12.6 |
| 6.6 | SPG | 5.1 |
| 5.4 | BPG | 3.7 |
“So, you’re just going to play the game,” Calipari said. “They’ll play us zone. One year we came up here, they played zone from the tip. They played almost all zone. Then they came to our building and they didn’t play any zone. There are times they’ve trapped us, and there are other times that they haven’t. We’ll just have to see.”
Adding to the challenge, UK will be taking a team full of players – save Wenyen Gabriel – who have never played a minute in one of the most uniquely challenging road environments in college basketball: Memorial Gymnasium. The Commodores have struggled to a 6-10 (1-3 SEC) record through the first two months of the season, but Bryce Drew’s team sat at 8-10 last season before charging into the NCAA Tournament.
“It’s always a hard game for us,” Calipari said. “It’s always a tough game. They space the court, they play different. They play a wide-open court. They’ll shoot 3s. They’re driving the ball. The big kid (Djery Baptiste) is playing well for them, so they have someone next to the goal. It’s a different team because they don’t have a five man shooting 3s like they have in the past, which really made things hard. But they’re still a team and in this building they play well.”
How close the Cats will be to full strength is another point of uncertainty after UK was down four players in a win over Texas A&M on Tuesday. Jemarl Baker just began rehab following knee surgery and will not play, while Jarred Vanderbilt (foot) is nearing a return. Quade Green and Tai Wynyard are dealing with shorter-term back injuries, but their statuses remain up in the air.
All that’s to say Saturday will bring lots of unknowns for the Cats, but that’s no big change for this team. Beyond all the injuries UK has dealt with, every day of practice brings a degree of uncertainty with the way Coach Cal is playing the part of a mad scientist.
“We’re doing things here that I’ve not done before,” Calipari said. “I’m experimenting. Even yesterday in practice, we tried some new stuff.”
Coach Cal knows that might sound a little crazy, but it’s what Kentucky is all about. Sure, Saturday’s game is important. Of course, Calipari and the Cats want to win it. It’s just that they want to win even more in March.
“It’s not just to try to play the next game,” Calipari said. “It’s to try to grow. It’s trying to get better. It’s trying to be one of those teams at the end of the year. And we know we’re not right now. I mean, the players know we’re not right now. But it’s not right now that we’re dealing with. It’s, when we get to the end, where are we now?”
No. 21/20 Kentucky Holds Off Texas A&M
Challenged by coach John Calipari to show toughness and urgency, No. 21/20 Kentucky displayed both against a Texas A&M squad determined to win its first Southeastern Conference game.
The short-handed, young Wildcats earned a hard-fought victory with some timely plays on both ends.
PJ Washington made a steal that led to Kevin Knox’s go-ahead layup with 2:28 left, then added four points down the stretch to help Kentucky rally past Texas A&M 74-73 on Tuesday night.
Trailing 59-53 with 8:43 remaining, the Wildcats clawed back to tie the game three times before Washington stole a high Tyler Davis pass and fed Knox for a 69-67 lead. Washington, a freshman forward, added a layup between two free throws for a 73-69 edge.
The Aggies weren’t done despite missed open 3-pointers by D.J. Hogg and Admon Gilder. They took advantage of missed Kentucky free throws to get within a point with four seconds left on a Robert Williams’ tip-in.
Two Washington misses at the line set up a final chance for Texas A&M, but a court-length inbounds pass sailed out of bounds as time expired.
Hamidou Diallo had 18 points, Washington and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 16 each and Knox got 15 as Kentucky (13-3, 3-1 Southeastern Conference) shot 65.0 percent after halftime and 55.8 percent overall to bounce back from last weekend’s loss at No. 23/22 Tennessee.
Gilgeous-Alexander also had seven rebounds and five assists in 39 minutes while starting in place of Quade Green, who was ruled out just before tipoff because of a back strain. Tai Wynyard also missed with a back injury for the second-consecutive game.
NOTABLES:
• The game featured 14 ties and 12 lead changes and neither team led by more than six points
• UK improved to 6-0 when making at least 50 percent of its shots
• The Wildcats had only 12 turnovers, improving to 6-0 this season when committing 12 or fewer miscues
• UK is now 4-1 in games decided by five points or less this season
• Gilgeous-Alexander now has four or more assists in six straight games
• Diallo scored 10 points in a row early in the second half
• Knox made all five of his shots from the field
Bounce Back
The Wildcats don’t lose very often during the John Calipari era, but when they do, they almost always bounce back.
UK improved to 41-8 under Calipari following a loss after a victory over Texas A&M that followed a setback vs. Tennessee. Kentucky’s backto- back losses to Kansas and Tennessee in 2016-17 were its first since also losing back-to-back games at Kansas and at Tennessee in 2015-16.
The Wildcats have only lost back-to-back games eight times during the Calipari era and they’ve never lost three in a row with Calipari on the sidelines — including avoiding a three-game skid despite trailing by 14 to Georgia in the first half on Jan. 31, 2017. The last time UK lost three games in a row was in February 2009 when the Wildcats dropped four straight games to end the regular season.
