Vicky Graff Photo
Vanderbilt coach Jerry Stackhouse managed to beat Kentucky twice last season but he’s seen a different Kentucky this year.
The Wildcats beat Vandy 93-77 Wednesday night even though Vanderbilt probably played about as well as possible the first half when it shot 53 percent and made only three turnovers — yet still trailed by five points at halftime.
“Kentucky is a really good, talented offensive team. The best that I’ve seen I think since I’ve been here,” Stackhouse said. “Just down the line multiple guys step behind the 3 (and make shots).
“I think we probably had seven guys tonight with at least three made field goals and they’re tough to cover. I thought our guys competed and ran out of gas a little bit in the second half.”
Kentucky can do that to a team, especially when Rob Dillingham gets on a roll like he did that saw him score 23 points in a 20-minute span from the last four minutes of the first half until the final four minutes of the game. He had 12 points in the final four minutes of the first half.
Stackhouse believes shifty is the best way to describe Dillingham.
“I saw him in high school. I mean, I knew him when he was at Combine Academy when he played against my teammates from North Carolina. And when I saw him, I just, I didn’t know if he was big enough right at the time when I first saw him as a ninth grader, but he continued to grow in, and he just got better,” the Vanderbilt coach said.
“I mean, that kid has really gotten better, and he’s a tough cover for anybody. He’s the guy that’s capable of exploding and going for 25 or 30 on any given night. I think that’s why you’re seeing him projected on the draft boards because he has that type of ability.
“Being able to play one on one, create off the dribble kind of Kyrie Irving like and I think once he continues to grow as a defender, right … he’s going to be a guy that you try to pick on but I think he has that same shift in this (defense) that he has on offense and he can apply that and become a good on-ball defender as well.”
Stackhouse knew Kentucky “blitzed” its team even though Vanderbilt did take care of the ball better than it did in Nashville against the Cats.
“You don’t take good shots and you turn the ball over. I think probably Reed Shepard is one of the best that I’ve seen at those outlets (passes). You make a mistake at transition, or you know you’re not closing out there and he — along with being a knockdown shooter — his ability to hit up the floor,” Stackhouse said. “He got us a couple of times tonight just because we were trying to press him in or we didn’t turn around and see the ball and it’s on a zipline to where it needs to go.
“But they’re a very, very talented team again. I know they’re talking about trying to get better defensively and I think they’re doing that. That’d be a challenge for them in a tournament but offensively they’ve been able to score with anybody else.”
12 Responses
Maybe if our 2 best guards started, we would not get off to such a slow start EVERY game.
Can’t do that Barry.
Wagner and Edwards would pout and quit playing.
They don’t want to be thought of as "sub scrubs"
There’s no pouting in this team that you think.
Because he’s starting the ones that would pout if they didn’t start.
Not starting the ones with a good team first attitude.
Good team first attitude under the Hall of Fame coach gets you mistreated.
Wouldn’t expect you to understand because you never played.
I play ball long before you were born. That’s your point of view that not everyone agrees on included me. But hey it is and was it is. GO Cats!
Reed and Dillingham have started this year and Kentucky got off to a slower start than when they come off the bench. Would be a more interesting post if you knew anything about basketball,
Defense wins championships. Ours HAS to get better FAST!
This team unfortunately will not go far as their defense is horrible. The 3 big men are too weak and need to get stronger. They get pushed around like a toddler. Offense has kept them in games but in the tournament they will get tougher defense and scoring will get more difficult. I wish this wasn’t true, but it is what it is.
Today will be interesting
Another year we didn’t win the SEC Conference,the only real shot we have in the SEC tournament is if we can keep scoring at a high level, there just isn’t enough time for are defense gel and get better, most of our team will be leaving here soon, never any continuity,new team every year!
Go Cats!
Who cares as long as they do something in the tournament. A sweet sixteen or a elite eight 🎱 would have me doing flip’s. BBN.