No. 17/15 Kentucky Cruises Past Vanderbilt on Tuesday
After dropping a pair of tough games at home last week, No. 17/15 Kentucky needed to get back into the win column on Tuesday. The Cats not only did that, they did it in style.
The Cats made 10 of their first 12 three-point shots, building a big lead early and beating Vanderbilt 109-77 inside Memorial Gymnasium.
UK would make 15 of 26 from behind the arc in the game and the Cats made all 12 of their free throws.
Antonio Reeves was hot from the tip, hitting 9 of 16 from the field, including 6 of 9 from behind the arc, on his way to 24 points. For Reeves, it was his 12th 20-point scoring game of the season and his sixth such game in Southeastern Conference play.
Rob Dillingham followed up his 35-point performance on Saturday against Tennessee with 20 points on Tuesday. Justin Edwards scored a career-high 17 points, while Jordan Burks added a career-high 13 points. Aaron Bradshaw had 12 points and seven rebounds for the Cats and Zvonimir Ivisic added 11 points and seven rebounds.
Kentucky (16-6, 6-4 SEC) scored the first five points of the game on a Reeves jumper and a three from Justin Edwards. The Commodores would eventually get within one, 9-8, but the Cats scored eight in a row, including a pair of threes from Dillingham, to lead 17-8.
After a Vanderbilt basket, Dillingham hit another three to give UK a 20-10 lead. Vandy would cut into the lead by Ivisic scored five straight for the Cats, who led 25-15 with 11:59 to play in the first half.
Vanderbilt (6-16, 1-8) would get a pair of free throws before the Cats got another three from Reeves and a Dillingham layup to take a 30-17 lead.
The Commodores would cut the UK lead to 30-20 before the Cats went on a 12-2 run, sparked by a pair of Reeves threes, to take a 42-22 lead. The Cats would lead 54-38 at the break, led by Reeves’ 16 points.
The onslaught would continue in the second half, with the Cats leading my as many as 33 in the second half before settling for the 32-point victory.
Kentucky returns to action on Saturday night, hosting Gonzaga at Rupp Arena. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. ET and the game can be seen on CBS.
