There for a while in the first half, it seemed like Kentucky might cruise to one of those blissfully boring midweek SEC blowouts we’d grown so accustomed to over the past decade, but of course not. Not this season.
The Cats were up by 17 midway through the first half and led Vanderbilt 42-30 at intermission, but the Commodores refused to die, going on a 10-2 run to cut the lead to four with 16:09 left and tying it up at the 13:54 mark. The rest of the game was a brutal back-and-forth of frustrating defense, even more frustrating calls, and, thankfully, enough made free throws that the Cats were able to hang on for the 82-78 win, their second straight.