Kentucky Visits Vanderbilt as Commodores look for Another Memorial Upset
Nashville, Tn.- Just twelve days ago the Vanderbilt Commodores put a scare into the Big Blue Nation when the led Kentucky late in their game at Rupp Arena. The Cats would battle from behind to win going away, but Wildcats head coach John Calipari and his team knew they had been in a battle.
Tonight the two teams will meet again, this time in Nashville and inside Memorial Gym where just last week Vanderbilt knocked of then league-leading and undefeated in conference LSU Tigers in that same building.
Calipari knows that same fate could befall him and his team tonight if the Cats play the same way they did for the first 16 minutes in Lexington.
Vanderbilt led a total of 19:09 in the previous meeting with freshman Dylan Disu leading the way, but when the Pflugerville, Tx. native picked up his fourth foul and went to the bench with 11:55 left to play, the game turned. Vanderbilt was able to stay in the battle and held leads as late as 4:20 left to play, but it would not be enough in the end to overcome the Cats.
Tonight the Commodores re a different team, playing better basketball and getting offensive contributions from other players. It will be a tough task regardless, but this is a game Vanderbilt feels confident in that they can play with the Wildcats.
Kentucky (18-5 overall, 8-2 SEC) are currently tied atop the SEC standings with Auburn, though they lost to the Tigers on The Plains last week. Still, the Cats have won their last two since falling at Auburn, with wins over Mississippi State and over Tennessee in Knoxville on Saturday.
Cals Cats enter round two averaging 75.3 ppg offensively while allowing 65.7 ppg defensively. Both numbers rank in the top one-hundred in the nation.
While Nick Richards (14.6 ppg) is the biggest name on the Kentucky roster, guard Immanuel Quickley leads them in scoring (14.8) just ahead of Richards.
Guards Tyrese Maxey (13.4 ppg) and Ashton Hagans (12.3 ppg) round out the top scorers for Kentucky.
Depth will also be an issue for the undermanned Commodores as Kentucky has nine players who average double-figures in minutes per game, and some of those players such as EJ Montgomery possess the size that Vanderbilt has struggled against this season.
Montgomery (6'10"0 and Nate Sestina (6'9") give the Cats a decided advantage inside which the Commodores managed to handle most of the game in Lexington.
How they do against Richards in particular, and the rest of the Cats inside presence will be a key factor in potentially getting a win tonight.
The Commodores also must score the basketball from the outside as they did against LSU. No, I'm not expecting two-thirty point scorers tonight, but it wouldn't hurt Vanderbilt's chances if it happened, and in fact, I'll go as far as to say if it did, fans of the black & gold would be leaving happy.
Tipoff is set for 6 pm tonight and can be seen on ESPN 2 and The SEC Network.
1965 SEC Regular Season Champions To Be Honored
The 1965 SEC regular-season champions will be honored at the half of Tuesday’s game with the Wildcats, the third SEC championship team to be honored this season. Earlier this year, the 1974 and 1993 teams were honored by Vanderbilt Athletics.
Follow Greg on Twitter @GregAriasSports and @SIVanderbilt or on Facebook at Vanderbilt Commodores-Maven
