Kentucky appears to be like to increase a five-game league profitable streak when it travels to No. 15 Vanderbilt on Tuesday night time in Nashville.
The banged-up Wildcats (14-6, 5-2 Southeastern Convention) scored a 72-63 residence win over Ole Miss on Saturday regardless of enjoying with out key gamers in place to begin guard Jaland Lowe and forwards Kam Williams and Jayden Quaintance. Otega Oweh, a senior guard who has averaged 19.7 factors in league video games and 16.1 for 20 video games general, scored 23 within the win.
Coach Mark Pope, who gave double-digit minutes to 9 gamers, lauded his workforce for its toughness and unselfishness.
“What we have now proper now’s we have now guys making profitable performs,” Pope mentioned. “So, we have now guys which might be falling in love with making the soiled, non-scoring, massively necessary profitable performs of the sport. We have now guys stepping up and doing that all over, and it is why we have had a lot success in all these shut video games, and it is as a result of guys are falling in love with it.”
Vanderbilt (17-3, 4-3) snapped a three-game dropping streak with an 88-56 win at Mississippi State on Saturday. The Commodores performed with out one in all their prime three guards in Frankie Collins, however Tyler Tanner (24 factors, 5 assists) and Duke Miles (17 factors, seven steals) greater than picked up the slack.
Vanderbilt had been terrible defensively in that three-game skid, permitting 80 factors to Texas, 98 to Florida and 93 to Arkansas in a 25-point loss. Coach Mark Byington, who known as the Jan. 20 efficiency in opposition to Arkansas “embarrassing,” was thrilled with how the workforce held MSU’s Josh Hubbard — then the SEC’s main scorer — to seven factors on Saturday to drop his common to 21 per sport.
“Our exercise was nice,” Byington mentioned. “Our protection was actually locked in in the present day, and (Mississippi State has) some proficient offensive gamers. The SEC’s main scorer within the league, he is powerful to protect. Our guys’ strategy to the sport was actually good.”
Kentucky’s Lowe (season-ending shoulder damage) and Williams (damaged foot) are out, and Quaintance (knee) possible will not be obtainable for Wednesday’s sport. However Vanderbilt’s Collins, who averaged 7.8 factors, 20.9 minutes and a couple of.4 steals over 9 video games, would possibly play after lacking the final 9 video games with a meniscus damage.
Collins, Tanner (17.4 ppg, 2.4 spg) and Miles (16.6 ppg, 2.8 spg) are disruptive defenders who can get the Commodores straightforward buckets in transition off turnovers.
That presents a problem for Kentucky and level guard Denzel Aberdeen, who’s turned it over simply seven instances in comparison with 16 assists over the five-game profitable streak.
The Wildcats weren’t a superb defensive workforce earlier within the 12 months, however they’ve gotten there due to slowing tempo (18.4 seconds per defensive possession for the 341st slowest nationally, per KenPom) and a 16.6% defensive turnover charge in league video games.
Vanderbilt is elite at defending the ball (11.0% turnover charge in SEC video games) however has struggled in opposition to greater groups. That makes Kentucky’s 7-foot Malachi Moreno, 6-11 Andrija Jelavic and 6-10 Brandon Garrison, who mixed to play greater than 58 minutes vs. Ole Miss, gamers to observe.
Ought to Kentucky sluggish the tempo to a half-court sport, Vanderbilt’s Tyler Nickel (14.7 ppg, 46.3% on 3s) is a participant to observe together with Tanner (40.2%).
The Wildcats aren’t a superb outside-shooting workforce, however Oweh (33.3% on 3-pointers), Collin Chandler (40.4%) and Aberdeen (36.8%) have had some success from distance.
–Subject Stage Media
