Andrij Jelavic knew the 3’s were falling for Kentucky in the first half when UK hit nine to blow the game open against Vanderbilt (Vicky Graff Photo)
Kentucky’s topsy turvy season continued Saturday but this time it was the kind of play the Big Blue fans loved.
After scoring only 55 points in a 25-point beatdown at Vanderbilt, Kentucky exploded for 47 points in the first half when it hit nine 3-pointers, including five by Collin Chandler, and beat the Commodores 91-77 in a game that was never really in doubt. Kentucky’s lead reached 22 points and was never under double digits in the second half.
The win came after three straight losses by the Cats before a lackluster win at South Carolina. But UK left no doubt about the better team in this game.
“Kentucky had the ability to respond any time Vanderbilt threw a punch and had the ability to sustain the lead after it got it,” ESPN analyst Dane Bradshaw said. “You knew Kentucky would come out and try to get redemption (for the earlier loss) but Vandy at full strength was a little stunned by Kentucky’s start. You knew it was going to be personal for them after the way they got beat at Vandy.”
Sophomore Collin Chandler had a career game. He had two 3’s in the first three minutes and four in the first 13 minutes. He finished the game 6-for-8 from 3-point range and had 23 points and two assists. He also got a huge ovation midway of the second half for his hustle play when he dove on the floor to save a possession for UK.
“Those are the kinds of plays that endear him to Kentucky fans,” Bradshaw said. “He brought the energy from both sides of the floor.
It was a significant win not only for potential NCAA Tournament seeding but also for SEC Tournament seeding. Kentucky is 10-6 and still has a chance to earn a double bye if it beats Texas A&M and Florida to end the season. However, it should have taken care of any concerns that UK would have to play on the opening day on the conference tourney.
Senior Otega Oweh came back in a big way from his 8-point game at South Carolina — his first game where he did not score in double figures this season. He finished with 23 points on 9-for-16 shooting along with four assists and two steals that he converted into dunks.
Point guard Denzel Aberdeen continued his stellar play with 15 points on 5-for-10 shooting but more importantly he had four rebounds, four assists and no turnovers in a team-high 37 minutes. He’s had only one turnover in over 140 minutes in UK’s last four games.
However, maybe the best sign for Kentucky was the play of 7-foot freshman center Malachi Moreno. He got bullied at Vanderbilt and was no factor. He had 11 points, six rebounds and five assists. He was 4-for-5 from the field.
“A lot of guys did good stuff defensively tonight, but I thought the job Malachi did from the beginning of not letting them bully him sent a message to his teammates,” UK Radio Network analyst Jack Givens said after picking Moreno as his defensive player of the game.
Another former UK All-American, Kenny Walker, is the postgame analyst for WVLK Radio and he was glad to see UK take advantage of its size.
Chandler and Oweh took the ball to the basket strong. We dominated in the paint where we needed to with the size advantage we have,” Walker said. “I hope whatever this offense we were running today that we can see more of that action and get our big guys closer to the basket.”
Kentucky was 12 of 14 on layups and dunks, something that has been a problem for UK in too many games this year and one reason UK shot 59 percent (30 of 51) from the field.
The Cats also averaged about 1.5 points per possession. “That is a huge number. It is hard to sustain that kind of effort the whole game. Every offensive category, Kentucky was really good today,” Walker said.
Kentucky went 20 of 25 at the foul line and 11 of22 from 3-point range. The offense was crisp with plenty of movement.
“The resiliency of this team and the injuries they have had has been really impressive,” Bradshaw said. “If you asked me in January which SEC team might be on the (NCAA Tournament) bubble, I would have said Kentucky. But they have played above that. This is a confident club today and a dangerous team.”
6 Responses
Jelavic needs more minutes. He should get half of Garrison's minutes and half of Dioubate's minutes.
I agree. I think when Garrison comes into the game I hang my head every time. I know Moreno needs to rest but BG is terrible. He doesn't rebound and he's 6'10" and has a NBA body. He looks like a NBA player but he plays soft. He has a bangers body but tries to play with finesse. What kills me with BG it's like he can play much better. Watch the Oklahoma game again. If he even played half that good we would be a much better team. It kills us when MORENO comes off the floor. I don't know what happened to BG. Some games it looks like he's turning a corner then most games he looks totally lost. We are one big and a point guard away from being a championship caliber team. Aberdeen is starting to play at a elite level at the point so thats not been the problem. When Moreno comes out we get killed in the boards. Watch next game. When Moreno is in there he's blocking out and crashing the boards. BG never crashes the boards. He sits there and watchss everyone battle for the rebound. The problem is we need BG. He is the only backup center we have. He just needs to get his head out of his butt and play basketball. When he gets the ball down low instead of just dunking on everyone's head. He shuffles his feet and throws up a fadeaway from 3-4 feet from the basket. Dunk the damn ball. Your 6'10" 250 pounds. I really thought he was going to play at a high level this year. We are JQ away from being a great team. He really turned his back on his teammates. He only cares about the NBA. If JQ would even just play 10-15 mins a game we would be a legit top 15 team.
Everyone knows BG is better than he shows, and he knows it as well but for some reason he doesn't want to be a team player and contributor.He can take 1 step forward and then 3 back. He definitely is the biggest underachiever of the year on our team and maybe the conference. He really hasn't shown much in 2 yrs, and if he leaves after the season it will be addition by subtraction. He has got to want to do it, and it is the coachs' responsibility as well and nothing changes. I am surprised the teammates don't get on him.
Jelavic needs to show more with the minutes he gets. He had 6 pts at halftime and did not score 2nd half.
They don't look for him to score. On the other hand, every time Dioubate gets the ball he is going to shoot it.
Nice win.. cant ask for much more than that
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