In our regular postgame feature, the Cats Illustrated staff offers its first impressions from Kentucky's 77-70 win over Vanderbilt on Wednesday night at Rupp Arena.
JEFF DRUMMOND:
This was one ugly game. It seemed like Vanderbilt came into the matchup determined to make it as physical as possible and see how Kentucky would respond. The results were mixed. The rough-house tactics helped the Commodores get the Cats out of rhythm and erase almost every bit of a 16-point deficit. But it also lit a fire under UK, which showed it could respond to that type of challenge. Defending Kentucky is really difficult because you never know who's going to lead the Cats in the scoring column. Case in point: Davion Mintz stepped up big with a team-high 21 points off the bench. It was good to see Keion Brooks Jr. back up his 27-point effort at Kansas with a 20-point performance tonight. It was not a great night for Oscar Tshiebwe, but you look up and he still winds up with 11 points, 17 rebounds, three assists, and four steals. Crazy.
DAVID SISK:
Wins like these are good. Vanderbilt is better than I thought. They’ve got SEC bodies on the roster and they are physical. Jerry Stackhouse obviously wanted to muddy the game up. All of the whistles and reviews made it hard to get in a flow. But every time Vanderbilt got it close Kentucky answered with a run of their own. Physical games like this in a trap game will get UK ready for teams like Tennessee. Kentucky showed that they can play on the chippy side as well. The bottom line is that this team will bang and defend. That wins games in March.
JUSTIN ROWLAND:
This wasn't the most inspiring Kentucky performance but that's in part a testament to the level this team is capable of playing at. Vanderbilt has really played Kentucky close in Rupp in recent years and tonight was no exception. Length bothered Tshiebwe, UK missed more mid-range shots than usual, and everything seemed to require a little more effort tonight. But again, it's a testament to this team when they win fairly comfortably and you feel like they could have played better. Pippen had a characteristically strong game against Kentucky but Vandy didn't get enough from other guys. Mostly, I was disappointed in the officiating and the way the game was played and called tonight. UK just keeps chugging along like a well-oiled machine worthy of its top-5 ranking but there will be plenty of nights when they look better.
