Kentucky's win last night was much bigger than beating Vanderbilt
The Kentucky Wildcats blew out the Vanderbilt Commodores 109-77 in Nashville.
Vanderbilt is not only one of the worst teams in the SEC but also one of the worst in all of college basketball, ranking 236th in the NET rankings and 201st in the KenPom rankings. Despite the numbers, this win over Vanderbilt feels like one of the best wins of the season.
Some might ask why the win over the SEC's worst team is such a big deal. The answer to that question would be the joy and confidence it brought the players is extremely valuable. Playing at Kentucky, the significant people in the college basketball world are always talking about you, good or bad. Last week, it was a lot of bad stuff, which can hurt the confidence of these young basketball players. Winning a game the way they did, even over a bad opponent, will give this team a great deal of confidence against Gonzaga on Saturday. You could see the excitement on the player's faces as guys like Justin Edwards, Jordan Burks, Aaron Bradshaw, and Zvonimir Ivisic all played well. This team is really close, which will help in March if they can continue to figure out the defensive issues.
Coach Calipari had this to say about the defense after the game, "We have to lock in defensively. Will we get better defensively? Will we take pride in our defense? That's the emphasis." He also said that is what they are focusing on in practice right now.
If Kentucky beats a solid Gonzaga team on Saturday, a big reason why will be the confidence they gained blowing out the Vanderbilt Commodores on Tuesday.
