Kentucky overcomes historic free-throw discrepancy, and more postgame notes

Jan 25, 2023 - 11:00 AM

The Kentucky Wildcats are officially on a streak following their 69-53 win at Vanderbilt Commodores, their four-straight triumph following the South Carolina setback.

After a sluggish start by both teams, Kentucky took full control of the game midway through the first half and never looked back. The Cats would hold a 29-27 lead late in the first half before going on a 19-3 run to take firm command of the game.

Antonio Reeves led the team in scoring for the third time in those four games after notching 16 points on 7/14 shooting with three boards and one assist.

Oscar Tshiebwe (15 and 13) and Jacob Toppin (12 and 10) both had double-doubles in the same game for the second time this season.

Oh, and Kentucky did all of this while basically getting shut out at the free-throw line, attempting just two attempts in the entire game. The Dores were called for a whopping five fouls in the 40-minute contest, an unheard-of number.

Up next, Kentucky will have a potentially massive resume-boosting game vs. the No. 9 Kansas Jayhawks in Rupp Arena.

Now, here are the postgame notes and milestones via UK Athletics.

Final Score: Kentucky 69, Vanderbilt 53

Team Records and Series Notes

• Kentucky won its fourth in a row, tying its longest winning streak of the season, and is 14-6 overall and 5-3 in the Southeastern Conference.
• Vanderbilt is 10-10 overall and 3-4 in league play.
• Kentucky leads the series 155-47 and has won 14 in a row vs. the Commodores.
• UK leads the series 62-29 in games played in Nashville.
• Tonight was Kentucky’s 78th game played at Memorial Gymnasium (69 vs. Vanderbilt, 5 NCAA Tournament, 3 SEC Tournament, 1 SEC Playoff). This ties Freedom Hall for the most games played by UK in a single arena all-time (excluding home arenas).
• Next for UK: on Saturday, the Wildcats play host to No. 9 Kansas in the annual SEC/Big 12 Challenge.

Team Notes

• Kentucky limited Vanderbilt to 53 points, 20 points below its season average.
• Kentucky is now 86-0 in the Calipari era when keeping the opponent to 55 or fewer points, including 3-0 this season.
• Vanderbilt shot 32.7 percent from the field tonight and UK is 229-24 (90.5%) under Calipari when holding the opponent to 40% or less.
• Kentucky dominated the rebounding, 37-24. UK is 10-0 this season when winning the rebounding by at least 10 boards during the game.
• Kentucky had 17 assists tonight and is 11-0 this season when getting at least 16 assists.
• Kentucky led by as many as 20 points and the Wildcats are 321-13 (96.1%) under Calipari when leading the opponent by at least 10 points at any time during the game.
• Kentucky shot 56.4% from the field, the eighth game this season the Wildcats have shot at least 50 percent, but just the first time this season away from Rupp Arena.
• It was the second-best shooting percentage in the Calipari era in a true road game, only behind a 56.7 percent night at South Carolina on Feb. 8, 2022.
• Kentucky had five players in double figures for the third time this season and first time since the Michigan game.
• Third time this season that UK has gotten the “TNT” double-double from Tshiebwe and Toppin, also vs. Georgia and North Florida.
• When Vanderbilt missed a free throw with 3:10 remaining, it marked the first time in two games that an opponent missed a foul shot after Texas A&M and VU had combined to make 25 in a row.
• Kentucky made only one trip to the foul line tonight, making 1 of 2 attempts, both of which are the lowest numbers of the Calipari era – actually by significant margins, as the previous lows were three made on two occasions and six attempts on two occasions.

Player Notes

• For the second game in a row, Antonio Reeves came off the bench to lead the Wildcats in scoring with 16 points.
• It is his sixth-straight double-figure scoring game and 15^th of the season.
• Oscar Tshiebwe amassed 15 points and 13 rebounds, his 40^th double-double in 52 games at Kentucky.
• Jacob Toppin had 12 points and 10 rebounds, his fourth double-double of the season.
• CJ Fredrick had 10 points, his fourth double-figure game in the last five outings, and had a season-high five assists.
• Cason Wallace had 10 points, his 12^th double-figure scoring game of the season, and added five rebounds.
• Sahvir Wheeler sparked with four points and five assists, tying Fredrick for game-high honors in that category.

Coach John Calipari

• Calipari is 25-4 vs. Vanderbilt, with all but one win coming at UK.
• Calipari has an 824-247 all-time on-court record and is 379-107 in 14 seasons at UK.
• UK is 311-60 (83.8%) against unranked competition under Calipari.

In the First Half

• Kentucky opened with a starting lineup of Cason Wallace, CJ Fredrick, Chris Livingston, Jacob Toppin and Oscar Tshiebwe for the fourth game in a row.
• Antonio Reeves was the first substitute at 15:29 and he made a 3-pointer on his first possession.
• The teams battled evenly until a six-point Kentucky run put UK ahead 25-20 and the Wildcats never trailed again.
• Kentucky scored the last seven points of the half and went to intermission ahead 36-27.
• Balanced scoring featured Reeves with nine points, Toppin and Fredrick with eight, and Tshiebwe with seven. Toppin led the boardwork with six rebounds.

In the Second Half

• Kentucky began the second half with the starting lineup.
• UK opened with a 12-3 spurt, extending the total run to 19-3, making the score 48-30 and coaxing a Vanderbilt timeout at 15:43.
• Vanderbilt got no closer than 11 points the rest of the way.