Kentucky vs. Vanderbilt Part II: Takeaways

Kentucky struggled for about 14 minutes but put it together and to see off Vanderbilt in the final home game of the season.  The Cats have improved to 22-8 and 12-5 in the SEC and still have a ton to play for down in Knoxville this weekend.

DJ Looks Healthy

Ankle injuries are a tricky beast.  The only real way to overcome them is rest and it’s hard to do that during the season.  After a few games of rust DJ Wagner appears to be the all the way.  Against Vandy he put up 11 points, 5 assists, and 4 rebounds.  He also shot 3 of 5 from three and this isn’t a one off. After missing 12 straight threes since returning from his injury (5 games), DJ has made 12/17 from deep in the last three games.

Getting DJ healthy and back in the swing of things was really important and seems like he’s made it all the way back.

Adou Plays Winning Basketball

On the surface 6 points and 6 rebounds doesn’t seem all that worthy of a shout-out but I think Adou deserves one anyway.  The guy only played 20 minutes, but Kentucky’s best stretches came with him on the floor.  Defensively, he kept Vandy from exploiting bad matchups along the perimeter with his length and athleticism.

Offensively, he’s shown the ability to hit wide open threes so teams are having to at least contest and it opens up the lane for everyone including him.  His ability to get to the rim and finish through contact has been vital.  4 of his 6 rebounds were offensive and really helped Kentucky take control of the game.

Rob Does It Again

Kentucky was really struggling in the first half.  Vandy was utilizing their spread-iso stall ball to perfection and the Kentucky offense was bogged down.  A couple of unforced turnovers early had Kentucky playing catch-up.  In steps Rob Dillingham. The Cats were down 30-25 with about 4 minutes to go before Rob scored 12 points and grabbed 1 assist to help Kentucky turn a 5-point deficit into a 5-point lead at HT.

That stretch really turned the game because Kentucky never looked back.  Over the final 24 minutes of basketball Kentucky outscored Vandy 68-47.   Multiple guys stepped it up during that stretch but Rob’s heater changed the game in my opinion.

What Does It Mean

Letting Vandy spoil senior night (again) would have been a disaster but thankfully the Cats didn’t let that happen.  A win over a hapless Vandy team doesn’t do much in terms of seeding but it does keep Kentucky alive for the 2 seed in the SEC Tournament.  More importantly, Antonio Reeves left Rupp Arena for the final time with a win and got the send off he deserves.

Kentucky will now turn it’s attention to the Tennessee Volunteers who have locked up the SEC Regular Season Championship.  We’ll have a preview of that game out sometime tomorrow but we never take winning for granted so we’ll enjoy this one for a little bit.

Go Cats.