Wednesday night, Kentucky Basketball will play a different Vanderbilt than the one it beat by 16 points in Nashville, 69-53, back in January. This time around, the Commodores have their star player available and they are one of the hottest teams in the conference entering the rematch in Lexington. The season finale in Rupp Arena, Vanderbilt hopes to spoil the Senior Night fun with a tenth conference victory. Vanderbilt hasn’t reached double-digit SEC wins since the 2016-17 season.
Here’s why it’s a completely different matchup than the first meeting on January 24:
Vanderbilt on fire
Believe it or not, Vanderbilt is playing like one of the best teams in the Southeastern Conference right now after starting conference play with six losses in the first nine games.