With 2:49 to go in the third quarter, Kentucky led by nine, and it looked like they might pull away to secure their third top 10 win of the season. However, the Cats failed to close out on a Vanderbilt three, and an intercepted pass led to a layup to put the Commodores right back in the game.
That sequence summarized the entire game, really. Kentucky shot itself in the foot. This is a game that looked like it had the potential to be a loss anyway, but being in the game and being in the thick of it, it’s disappointing that Kentucky couldn’t finish it out.
Here are KSR’s top takeaways from the 84-83 loss to top 10 Vanderbilt.
Kentucky lost by one to the No. 7 team in the country. Objectively speaking, that would indicate that the Cats are about as good as Vanderbilt is, and they probably are now that Teonni Key is back. Simple mistakes and unforced errors really felt like the difference on Thursday.
Vanderbilt did a great job of putting pressure on Kentucky’s ball handlers, mainly with their press and on inbounds passes. Kentucky turned the ball over 20 times, and the Commodores recorded 25 points off of turnovers as a result. Kentucky forced just six turnovers and only had five points off of them.
Against Tennessee and Georgia, Kentucky was just a few different bounces of the basketball away from winning. The same could be said for Vanderbilt. Heck, they beat then. No. 5 Oklahoma without Key.
This Kentucky team is so close to putting it all together. Unfortunately, they just couldn’t pull out the win against Vandy.
Key posted 15 points and 10 rebounds in her first game back from injury against Arkansas, and she followed that up with an even better outing against Vanderbilt.
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In 37 minutes of play, she put up a career-high 27 points on 11-15 shooting from the field while also grabbing 12 rebounds along the way. Obviously, Key’s importance was very clear when Kentucky struggled without her, but now that she’s back, you can really see the spark that she brings to the team.
Looking at the SEC standings, a double bye in the SEC Tournament doesn’t appear to be in the cards. The Cats are currently ninth in the conference, sitting at 5-5 in SEC play. Even if Kentucky wins out and finishes 11-5 in the SEC (which seems unlikely with games against Texas, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt and South Carolina still to go), a double bye would be hard to come by.
Tennessee (7-1 SEC) and Vanderbilt (8-2 SEC) are both better than they were last year, and South Carolina (9-1 SEC), Texas (7-2 SEC), LSU (7-3 SEC) and Ole Miss (6-3 SEC) all lead Kentucky in the SEC standings by multiple games.
Hosting in the NCAA Tournament may seem like a questionable possibility at this point, but it’s probably not out of play. Kentucky just has to try to build some momentum as we near postseason play.
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