Cats Adjust Winning Formula in Tight Battle at Vandy

Three months into the season and three dominant wins into Southeastern Conference play, Kentucky had found a potent recipe for victory.

The key ingredient: breakneck tempo.

What happens when an opponent takes that away for essentially an entire game? Well, it turns out the Wildcats still might find a way to win anyway.

“I just think that today we showed people that not only are we a transition team, but we can play in the half-court also,” said Isaiah Briscoe, who had 23 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

Entering Tuesday’s game at Vanderbilt, UK was averaging 29.3 transition points per game according to Synergy Sports – most by any high-major team dating back to the 2007-08 season. The Commodores, however, seemed intent on eliminating those opportunities. All but abandoning the offensive boards, Vanderbilt sprinted back on defense and allowed the Cats only eight fast-break points.

In spite of that, No. 6/6 Kentucky (14-2, 4-0 SEC) managed an 87-81 victory over the home-standing Commodores (8-8, 2-2 SEC) in Memorial Gymnasium.

“It was extremely important, just being able to show people even if we’re not out and running that we can execute in the half-court,” De’Aaron Fox said. “I think that’s what we did in the second half.”

Fortunately for UK, Fox and fellow freshman guard Malik Monk were on the floor for that second half, because they weren’t for most of the first. Both committed two fouls early in the first half and were limited to just 15 combined minutes.

It would have been far fewer had John Calipari not broken one of his cardinal rules and played both with those fouls.

“Believe me: If I’ve coached a thousand games, I’ve done that a handful of times,” Calipari said. “Normally I would not—you’re out. But I did not like the feel of the game. I didn’t like their energy. I didn’t like—I just said, ‘We gotta make sure we’re in this.’ And we went into the half up five, which was pretty good.”

In the second half, Fox and Monk played 39 minutes between them and exploded for 27 points. Monk was actually relatively quiet by his own lofty standards with 18 points for the game, but Fox had his second straight 20-point performance. But with open-floor opportunities much harder to come by, Fox had to rely on his midrange jumper more than he ever has.

“It’s just things that I’ve been working on the last few weeks,” Fox said. “It’s a lot of shots that teams are giving me and I just have to knock them down. Nothing more, nothing less I can say about that.”

The Commodores still didn’t make it easy down the stretch even with Fox hitting from outside, continuing Tuesday’s theme of the Wildcats having to win a game in ways foreign to them.

Every time UK made a crucial basket in the final four minutes, Vandy had the answer to make it a one-possession game once again. At least until Monk scored the final four points of the game at the free-throw line to ice it.

“We’re a young team, so people think they can get us in a close game and we don’t have the experience to be able to win games like that,” Fox said. “I think down the stretch, we executed all our plays. We got layups, mid-range shots that we needed and we made some tough free throws. So it just showed people that even in a close game we can still execute.”

UK fans might prefer blowouts like the Cats had in their first three conference games for the sake of their blood pressures. They surely want to see Fox, Monk and Briscoe racing down the floor as only they can. They’ll likely get plenty of all that over the next two months, but Coach Cal knows the Cats need an equal measure of games like Tuesday’s too.

“It’s just that it’s a different game for us and we need all these kind of games to show us where we gotta go,” Calipari said. “And mainly me as a coach. Again, I’m not here with veteran guys. I gotta figure out, OK, if we’re going to be playing and trying to be one of those teams, OK, you’re going to play a disciplined team, what are you going to be able to do? Can you win the game? And if you can’t your season ends.”