Men’s Basketball Postgame Notes
Vanderbilt at Kentucky, Rupp Arena, Lexington, Ky.
Feb. 28, 2017
Attendance: 24,036
Final Score: No. 9/9 Kentucky 73, Vanderbilt 67
Team Records and Series Notes
• Kentucky has won seven in a row and is 25-5 overall.
• UK is 15-2 in the Southeastern Conference and clinches at least a share of its 48th regular-season league championship as well as the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament with one game to play. It is UK’s fifth crown in eight seasons under John Calipari.
o The conference championship is Calipari’s 15th regular-season league title as a head coach. He won five at UMass, five at Memphis and now five at Kentucky. He is believed to be the only coach in NCAA Division I men’s basketball history to have won at least five regular-season titles at three different schools.
• Vanderbilt ended a four-game winning streak and is 16-14 overall, 9-8 in league play.
• Kentucky leads the series 143-47, including 80-14 in Lexington.
• Next for the Wildcats: UK finishes the regular season Saturday at Texas A&M. Game time is noon ET (11 am CST in College Station). The game will be televised by CBS.
In the First Half
• Kentucky’s starting lineup featured seniors Mychal Mulder, Dominique Hawkins and Derek Willis, along with Isaiah Briscoe and Bam Adebayo.
• Vanderbilt jumped out to a 7-0 lead.
• De’Aaron Fox got a 3-point shot early in the game, extending UK’s streak of 1,004 consecutive games with a triple.
• Ahead 11-6, Vanderbilt utilized a 14-0 run for a 25-6 lead with 8:03 remaining in the half.
• Kentucky responded with a 9-0 spurt to get back within 25-15.
• UK continued to edge closer, narrowing Vanderbilt’s lead to 30-24 at halftime. It is the fewest points UK scored in any half this season.
In the Second Half
• Vanderbilt got hot again and built a 47-34 lead.
• UK had an 8-0 run to make it 47-42 but VU’s Jeff Roberson hit a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired to blunt the momentum.
• Down 53-44, UK rallied again with a 10-1 run to tie the game at 54.
• UK earned its first lead of the game, 59-57, when Willis hit a 3-pointer with 4:46 remaining.
• Tied at 62, Fox made a free-throw line jumper, Briscoe followed with a tip-in and Monk swished a 3-pointer to give the Wildcats a 69-62 lead.
• VU kept fighting, with a pair of foul shots and a 3-pointer by Luke Kornet to get back to 69-67.
• UK held on with Malik Monk sinking four straight foul shots to preserve the win.
Team Notes
• Kentucky’s rally from 19 points down is the biggest comeback win in the Calipari era and the biggest since 1997.
o UK’s 19-point comeback deficit is its largest comeback since rallying from a 22-point deficit at Vanderbilt on Feb. 22, 1997
o The previous largest deficit in the Calipari era was 18 points vs. Miami (Ohio), 36-18, with 7:04 left in the first half on Nov. 16, 2009. UK stormed back to win 72-70. It marked just the second game in Calipari’s UK coaching tenure.
• Kentucky held Vanderbilt to 67 points.
o UK is 16-0 this season when limiting the opponent to 72 or fewer points.
• Kentucky shot 43.6 percent from the field. UK is 24-1 this season when shooting at least 42 percent.
• Kentucky won the rebounding battle for the seventh straight game – coinciding with the seven-game win streak – 33-28.
o UK has outrebounded opponents by 10.9 boards per game during the current seven-game win streak.
o UK is 21-2 this season when outrebounding the opponent.
• In the decisive second half, UK won turnovers 10-2 and capitalized by winning points off turnovers 17-0.
• UK won bench points 40-8, featuring 27 points from Monk and 13 by Fox.
• Kentucky honored seniors Dominique Hawkins, Mychal Mulder and Derek Willis before the game.
• Calipari has a 687-192 (.782) on-court record, including a 242-52 (.823) mark at UK.
• Kentucky has an all-time mark of 561-66 (.895) in Rupp Arena.
o UK is 134-6 (.957) at Rupp Arena under John Calipari.
o UK finished the season 14-2 at home, including 8-0 in the SEC.
Player Notes
• Freshman Malik Monk tallied 27 points, 20 of which came in the decisive second half.
• This was Monk’s 17th 20-point game of the season.
• He continued his streak of double-figure scoring in every game this season.
• Over the last two second halves (Florida and Vanderbilt), Monk has totaled 50 points.
• Freshman Bam Adebayo had 16 points and six rebounds.
• He is averaging 11.2 rebounds over the last five games.
• Freshman De’Aaron Fox returned after a one-game injury absence. He scored 13 points and added four rebounds.
• Sophomore Isaiah Briscoe had seven points and once again stalked the backboards with seven rebounds. He has averaged 7.6 caroms over the last 11 games.
• Briscoe also had a superb floor game, six assists and no turnovers.
• Senior Derek Willis made only one basket, but it was a big one – his 3-pointer with 4:46 gave UK its first lead of the game.
• He claimed eight rebounds, all on the defensive end, and blocked three shots.
• Perhaps his biggest play of the game came during the Senior Night ceremony when he proposed – successfully – to girlfriend Keely Potts.
• Senior Mychal Mulder made his second straight start, making 2 of 3 shots for five points.
