First Scouting Report: UK seeks to avoid what would be a Quad 3 loss at Vanderbilt
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A look ahead to the Kentucky Wildcats’ next men’s basketball game:
The opponent
No. 10 Kentucky (15-6, 5-4 SEC) will face Vanderbilt (6-15, 1-7 SEC) on Tuesday, Feb. 6, at Memorial Gymnasium (seating capacity of 14,316) on the campus of Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
The game will tip off at 8:30 p.m. (EST) and be telecast by the SEC Network.
Coach Jerry Stackhouse’s Commodores earned their first win over a power conference foe this season when they beat Missouri 68-61 Saturday in Nashville.
Series history
Kentucky leads the all-time series with Vanderbilt 155-49, but Vandy has won the past two meetings.
As UK head man, John Calipari is 24-6 vs. the Commodores.
Vanderbilt coach Jerry Stackhouse is 2-8 vs. UK.
Most recent meeting
Ezra Manjon scored a season-high 25 points and Jordan Wright and Tyrin Lawrence added 18 apiece to lead Vanderbilt to an 80-73 upset of No. 23 Kentucky in the 2023 SEC Tournament quarterfinals on March 10, 2023, at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
UK lost in spite of 22 points from Antonio Reeves and double-doubles from Jacob Toppin, 21 points and 11 rebounds, and Oscar Tshiebwe, 19 points and 15 boards. The rest of the UK roster combined for only 11 points, however.
After losing 14 straight games against Kentucky, the SEC tourney win was the second victory for Vandy over UK in nine days. On March 1, 2023, the Commodores spoiled UK’s Senior Night with a 68-66 win at Rupp Arena.
Power rankings
In the Pomeroy Ratings, Kentucky is No. 24 and Vanderbilt No. 191.
The NCAA NET rankings have Kentucky No. 25, Vanderbilt No. 235.
Know your foe
1. Vanderbilt opened its season with a 68-62 loss to Presbyterian and things have never really gotten back on track from there. Before Saturday’s win over Missouri (8-14, 0-9 SEC), the Commodores were 0-11 this season versus power conference foes.
In addition to the loss to Presbyterian, Vandy also took “L’s” vs. San Francisco (70-63) and Western Carolina (63-62).
The five wins the Commodores compiled prior to the victory over Missouri came against USC Upstate (74-67), UNC Greensboro (74-70), Central Arkansas (75-71), Alabama A&M (78-59) and Dartmouth (69-53).
It has been such a slog for Vanderbilt that, before the win over Mizzou, the competitive high point of the Commodores season was a 77-75 road loss at Memphis Dec. 23.
Vanderbilt’s NET ranking entering play Saturday, No. 235, would make Tuesday’s contest a Quad 3 road contest for UK.
With the Wildcats already carrying a Quad 3 loss on their NCAA Tournament résumé from losing at home to UNC Wilmington, another such defeat would be damaging.
2. Going into Saturday’s action, Vanderbilt had been the gang that couldn’t shoot. The Commodores were making only 39.17% of their overall field-goal tries and a chilly 28.3% of their 3-point tries.
Vanderbilt had only one player,freshman forward Carter Lang, making at least 50 percent of his shots — and the 6-foot-9, 235-pounds Lang was 16-for-32.
Vandy’s statistical profile in other areas was not great, either. The Commodores entered the Missouri game minus-two in average rebound margin on the season and with more team turnovers (218) than assists (190).
3. Two of the heroes of the SEC Tournament upset of UK last season, guards Ezra Manjon and Tyrin Lawrence, are Vanderbilt’s top players this season.
A 6-foot, 170-pound super-senior who transferred from UC Davis, Manjon entered Saturday as Vandy’s leading scorer at 14.6 points.
A 6-4, 200-pound senior, Lawrence was averaging 14.2 points, but making only 39% of his shots, 27% of his treys.
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