Vanderbilt Climbs its Toughest Mountain on Trip to Rupp Arena

Vanderbilt looks to put an end to their conference losing streak when the take on Kentucky at Rupp Arena, Wednesday night.

LEXINGTON, KY – Very few teams have success on the road in Lexington, where the Kentucky Wildcats have built one of college basketball’s iconic programs.

For the Vanderbilt Commodores at Rupp Arena, one of the premier venues in college basketball, success has been measured exactly twice.

Riding a Southeastern Conference losing streak of 24 games heading into Wednesday’s clash at 5:30 p.m. on the SEC Network, Vanderbilt is 20-92 all-time in Lexington and 2-40 at Rupp Arena. The wins came in back-to-back seasons when the Commodores knocked off the Cats in 2006-07.

The trip north in 2020 is perhaps the highest mountain to climb. The No. 13 Wildcats are 15-4 overall and 5-1 in league play, one game behind the lone unbeaten LSU (6-0) in the SEC. Kentucky has won 7-of-8 after a rocky start, including a shocking early-season loss at home to Evansville on Nov. 12.

Vanderbilt is 8-11 (0-6) and one game away from setting the SEC record for consecutive losses, dating back to an 0-18 mark in 2019 and the first six losses of this year. The Dores dropped a 90-64 contest at South Carolina Saturday, which happens to be the same place of the only blemish for the Cats. Kentucky lost to the Gamecocks on a buzzer-beating three on Jan. 15. Vanderbilt is tied with the 1940 Sewanee team at 24 straight conference losses in the regular season. The streak does not count postseason games.

Vanderbilt’s last regular-season SEC victory was at Ole Miss on March 3, 2018, when Jeff Roberson dropped 19 points for an 82-69 win.

This is only the second time this season Vanderbilt and first-year head coach Jerry Stackhouse will face a ranked opponent. The Commodores' best effort came against then-undefeated Auburn, losing 83-79 on the road to start conference play. But that was also the last game for leading scorer Aaron Nesmith, who will miss the remainder of the season with a foot injury. He was averaging 23.0 points per game, and among the nation’s leaders in scoring and three-point field goals and percentage.

Saturday’s point total at South Carolina is the highest for the Dores in five games without the star sophomore. While Saben Lee is now the team’s leading active scorer, his role has shifted. Lee began the season as the most valuable sixth man in the league, a former starter coming off the bench to provide an incredible scoring spark for the Commodores.

Now thrust into a starting and prime role, Lee is averaging a hefty 32 minutes a game in conference play. He is flanked by freshman Scotty Pippen Jr., on track for a solid debut season at Vanderbilt among the ranks of SEC newcomers. The point guard from Los Angeles, and son of NBA legend Scottie Pippen, is ninth in the league at 4.0 assists per game, fifth in the league with 76 free throws made, and eighth in assist to turnover ratio (1.52). He has gotten to the line 105 times, but that’s where Vanderbilt has struggled to convert consistently (67.6 percent as a team).

An emerging narrative for the Dores is the lack of an inside presence, with senior shot-blocker Clevon Brown still nursing an injury. He has yet to play in conference and his status for the remainder of the season is unknown. In nine games played, he was Vanderbilt’s leading rebounder at 6.0 per game and best rim defender with 2.0 blocks per game.

Stackhouse has shuffled the lineup since, with the tallest defender being a consistent presence from 6-foot-9 freshman forward Dylan Disu. But Disu’s production has dipped to 33 percent offensively from the field and just 6.4 points per game. With Disu starting, the remainder of the lineup has been a shuffle of guards and small forwards, including Pippen, Lee, junior Maxwell Evans, and freshmen Jordan Wright and Braelee Albert.

The taller rotation of Matthew Moyer, Ejike Obinna, and Oton Jankovic has produced just 32 combined minutes per game and only six points and six rebounds collectively.

Not a single player outside of Brown averages a block per game and only Disu (5.6) is above five rebounds.

The Powerful Cats

Junior 6-foot-11 forward Nick Richards is the counter culture to the one-and-done philosophy often believed about the Cats. The solid veteran leads the team at 14.3 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game. His experience and poise direct moments like Saturday, when he calmly and confidently two free throws with 10.3 seconds left at No. 18 Texas Tech. Kentucky won the game in overtime, 76-74, helping the conference earn a 5-5 split in the SEC-Big 12 Challenge.

Richards had 25 points, 14 rebounds, and four blocks, and secured his eighth double-double of the year.

Ball movement begins with sophomore guard Ashton Hagans, with 7.3 assists and 2.2 steals per game. He is one of four players on the squad averaging double figures at 13.2 points per game, joining Richards, guard Immanuel Quickley (14.0) and Tyrese Maxey (13.0). The Wildcats are nine deep, and average 75.7 points and 38.5 rebounds per game.

Quickley has a flair for the big moment, too, sinking a halfcourt three at the buzzer Saturday at Texas Tech, a shot that mathematically proved to be the difference in the game.

Kentucky also has 99 blocks for the season, with Richards accounting for 48 of them.

If UK has one potential weakness, the Commodores would need to exploit turnovers. The Cats have 250 for the season, but Vanderbilt is just as likely to give up the basketball with 252.

A Look Back – Vanderbilt 57, Kentucky 52 (Jan. 10, 2006)

The Commodores broke a 28-game losing streak at Rupp Arena with its first ever win, putting four players in double figures despite a low-scoring slugfest. Vanderbilt got 16 points from Shan Foster, 15 from future transfer and NBA player DeMarre Carroll, along with 12 from Derrick Byars and 11 from big man Julian Terrell.

Ravi Moss led the way for Kentucky with 16 and Randolph Morris scored 10. The game was just 23-20 in favor of Vanderbilt at the half, but the Commodores took advantage of 25 trips to the free throw line in the game and converted 21.

A Look Back, Take-Two - Vanderbilt 72, Kentucky 67 (Jan. 20, 2007)

Foster gave Vanderbilt the lead for good with 2:19 left, as the defensive-minded Wildcats came into the game locking down their opponents on the perimeter, allowing less than 30 percent from the field outside.

On a day where the Commodores would make 11 threes, Foster stepped inside the arc and buried a jumper past Sheray Thomas for a 59-58 edge, and then accentuated the victory with a steal and pass to Byars for a breakaway layup.

Coming into the game, Kentucky was 4-0 in the early conference and Vandy was 2-2. The Dores would ride the season to the Sweet 16.

Last Meeting

Kentucky won 87-52 at Memorial Gym on Jan. 29, 2019, with a 45-15 halftime lead. P.J. Washington had 26 points and Richards 14.

Kentucky won 56-47 at Rupp Arena on Jan. 12, 2019, with 15 points from Hagans and Keldon Johnson. The Commodores actually led 30-28 at the break.

Series

Kentucky leads the overall series, 147-47. The Wildcats have won six straight and nine of the last 10. Vanderbilt’s last win was February 27, 2016, at Memorial Gym. The teams will play again in Nashville on Feb. 11.

The last postseason meeting was March 15, 2013, when Vanderbilt won 64-48 in the SEC Tournament in Nashville. Vanderbilt also defeated the Cats 71-64 in the SEC Tournament Championship in New Orleans on March 11, 2012.