Cats Fall at Vanderbilt, 74-62

Jamal Murray scored 33 points, but Kentucky could not overcome Vanderbilt’s big second half, as the Wildcats lost 74-62 on Saturday at Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville.

Kentucky struggled from the floor in the second half, hitting just seven-of-26 (26.9 percent) of its shots. That allowed Vanderbilt to turn a 39-36 deficit into a 12-point win.

The Wildcats missed their last nine shots and did not score over the game’s last 3:47.

Murray scored 21 of his points in the first half, carrying Kentucky’s offense as he did much of the day. The freshman came up just two points shy of his career high of 35 points.

Vandy fell behind by as many as seven early in the second half before a 10-2 run allowed the Commodores to take a 48-47 lead with 15:29 remaining in the game. Vanderbilt would hold the lead for the remainder of the game.

Kentucky (21-8, 11-5 SEC) had only one other player in double figures in the game. Tyler Ulis had 12 points, along with six assists. Only two other Wildcats scored, with Marcus Lee posting nine points and Isaiah Briscoe adding eight.

Vanderbilt had only five players score in the game, but four of them scored in double figures. Matthew Fisher-Davis led Vandy with 20 points, while Jeff Roberson had 16. Damian Jones added 15 points and Wade Baldwin IV had 14.

While Kentucky went cold in the second half, Vanderbilt improved its shooting percentage, although only slightly. Vandy hit 13 field goals in each half, but needed only 30 attempts in the second half (43.3 percent) as opposed to 32 in the first half (40.6 percent).

Kentucky returns to action on Tuesday night, visiting Florida in Gainesville. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. ET and the game can be seen on ESPN.