On Tuesday night, Kentucky rolled to a 109-77 win in Nashville against Vanderbilt. Needing a bounce-back game, there was no shortage of offense in this one for the Cats. Six players ended up scoring double figures. Antonio Reeves and Rob Dillingham led the way, and the Cats got a feel-good win.
Let’s take a look at how Kentucky blew out Vandy to get back on track.
Kentucky Had No Shortage of Offense
The offense was clicking from the opening tip for the Cats. With six players scoring double-figures, Kentucky was scoring in bunches. Antonio Reeves led the way with 24 points on 6-9 from deep. Rob Dillingham was cooking, adding in 20 points. Justin Edwards had arguably his best game of the season. Edwards put up 17 points. Jordan Burks got more minutes tonight, finishing with 13 points.
The scoring didn’t stop there, as Aaron Bradshaw poured in 12 points, and Zvonimir Ivisic with 11. Reed Sheppard only had 6 points and didn’t have his best offensive night, but his defense was impressive. Adou Thiero added 4 points, and Ugonna Onyenso had 2. Kentucky shot 55.4% overall, and 57.7% from deep. Scoring 109 in an SEC game is nothing to complain about.
Defense Shows Signs of Improvement
Besides the offense clicking on all cylinders, Kentucky’s defense looked better, too. The Cats held Vandy to 35.5% overall and 32.4% from deep. Reed Sheppard was impressive on defense with 5 steals and a block to go along with his 6 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists. Kentucky had a team total 10 steals.
It was also the rebounding that showed a lot of improvement. Kentucky won the rebounding battle 50-28, after really struggling in that area all season. Regardless of this, it’s clear there’s still a lot more improvements needed in areas, and Calipari said that’s the focus moving forward: “The emphasis for the rest of the year…. 70% of it will be defense.”
Justin Edwards Bursts In His Coming Out Game
Even though it was Antonio Reeves and Rob Dillingham leading the way, Justin Edwards had his best game of the season. Edwards had a season-high 17 points to go with 3 assists and 2 steals.
He was all smiles after the game, and you can’t help but be happy for him after how his season has been. Jordan Burks also had his best game of the season, where he had an efficient 13 points and 5 rebounds, shooting a perfect 6-6 from the field. You can’t help but be happy to see these kinds of performances.
Kentucky will look to stay on track when they welcome Gonzaga to Rupp Arena on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. ET, and will be televised on CBS. You can check out the box score and highlights from Tuesday’s win against Vandy below.
Box Score
Highlights
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