The Commodores Win Big Against Kentucky: A Recap

NASHVILLE -- As the ice melts around Nashville after a crazy week in the music city, the flame of the Vanderbilt shooters' hands couldn’t be put out tonight. The night’s best SEC matchup saw the Kentucky Wildcats, who came into the game on a five-game win streak, make the trip down to a snow-covered Nashville.

The Commodores blitzed the Wildcats in the first half, shooting 50% from three-point range. Devin McGlockton stood out with his best performance of the season, starting the game 3-for-3 from three-point range and not having any fouls in the first half. For someone who has struggled with foul trouble all season, it was impressive to see the way McGlockton stayed away from that against a physical Kentucky team.

McGlockton praised his teammates for his early success postgame, saying, “I've been in the slump, and my teammates have been helping me out, just telling me to keep shooting the ball. And my coach has been speaking confidently into me. So yeah, they just helped me. That was a good half for me.”

With physicality being such an emphasis of something Vanderbilt needed to work on in recent games, it proved that it could play physical tonight against Kentucky. Head Coach Mark Byington was proud of the physicality his team showed and mentioned how much attention was put into planning for that strategy.

“[Physicality] probably was key number one in the game," Byington said postgame. "And we wanted to do better with the rebounding, and without Duke Miles, we started a bigger lineup. You know, AK Okereke was kind of our shooting guard. And we're going to lose some things, but we hopefully gain some things there. And that was really key number one: that whether it's going to be screening physically, rebounding physically, and then challenge and stuff around the rim, that was a major kick.”

Kentucky Head Coach Mark Pope praised the way Vanderbilt started the game and caught his Wildcats off guard, saying, “[Vanderbilt] played a great game. They came out with a ton of fire and energy, and intensity. They're dealing with some injuries, and they came out and just played with a ton of fight. Put us on our heels right away, and we never responded.”

Vanderbilt came away with the victory 80 to 55. An outstanding defensive effort held Kentucky to its lowest point total since Jan. 7th, 2023, when it only scored 53 points against number-one ranked Alabama.

The Commodores improve to 18 and 3 overall, and 5 and 3 in the SEC. Vanderbilt heads to Ole Miss Saturday for a 7:30 p.m. matchup with the 11 and 9 Rebels on the SEC Network.