Photo by British Athletics
Kentucky struggled to land the fatal shot, but were still able to sneak out of Memorial Gymnasium with an 82-78 victory over Vanderbilt.
The Wildcats led by as many as 17 in the first half after an explosive start by BJ Boston. The first-year guard had eight early points when UK opened the match on a 10-0 run. Despite the early success, the inevitable drought resurfaced, enabling Vandy to climb back into the game.
UK start five minutes without scoring. The Cats hit a few late buckets to get a pillow that would not hold. Vanderbilt opened the second half at 11-2 to get within one point. Dylan Disu, the best player on the court who led by 29 points and 16 rebounds on Wednesday night, tied the game with 13:54 left.
After Kentucky’s brightest star of the first 25 minutes, Isaiah Jackson, was plagued by bad problems, two unlikely heroes emerged for Kentucky: Olivier Sarr and Jacob Toppin.
Previously pointless, Sarr had a flurry of six points in just over two minutes to give UK some breathing space. Then Toppin enters the game and does a bit of everything for the Cats, hitting tries, making shots from the middle range and finishing ‘and ones’. Toppin ended the evening with 16 points, while Sarr added 10 points and four stoppages. Jackson was one setback away from a second doubles double, though he did not succeed in the second half. The Wildcats won the charity streak game and made 24-of-25 free throws.
Vanderbilt had one last run left in the tank. Despite another big try late by Davion Mintz, Commodores was able to reduce the deficit to one thanks to Disu’s heroic deeds. Keion Brooks put an opponent on a poster, but a terrible complaint call wiped out the dagger because it would have been the play of the year. It was a block / call so disgusting, it would cause you to never want to watch basketball again.
As furious as the last two minutes had to behold, Kentucky Vanderbilt escaped with an important victory. The Wildcats have a winning streak when they need it most, just before the SEC tournament.