Kentucky
CatsIllustrated – Cats crash Vols' Senior Day party
Just as it did last year in the regular-season finale at Arkansas, Kentucky embraced the role of party crasher on Saturday in Knoxville, Tenn.
Antonio Reeves and Reed Sheppard each scored 27 points as the No. 15 Wildcats spoiled Senior Day for No. 4 Tennessee with an 85-81 victory at Food City Center.
Kentucky (23-8, 13-5 SEC) led by as much as 14 and looked to be in complete control with an 11-point lead in the final minute of play, but Tennessee had one last charge to test Big Blue Nation’s nerves.
The Volunteers scratched within three points after three consecutive UK turnovers down the stretch but missed a potential tying 3-pointer with 12 seconds to go, and the Cats’ Rob Dillingham hit one of two free throws with :05.9 remaining to clinch the win.
“They deserve it,” Kentucky head coach John Calipari said. “They’re a bunch of kids who never think they’re out of a game. I told them at halftime, you understand they’re going to make a run, but did they ever get up on us? No.”
Balance was the key for Kentucky, which also got 16 points from Justin Edwards and 11 points from Dillingham to help offset a 40-point explosion by the Vols’ Dalton Knecht.
“Justin was ridiculous, by far his best game,” Calipari said of Edwards, who had 13 points in the first half to help establish the tone. “I know there were people (saying) don’t play him and don’t do this, but I stuck with him, and now you see why I believed in him.”
The Cats shot 46% from the field against the nation’s third-rated defense, knocked down 15 of 29 from beyond the 3-point arc, sank 16 of 18 free throws, and won the battle on the glass 42-37.
Sheppard, a freshman guard, scored 22 of his 27 points in the second half. He came off the UK bench to go 7-of-10 from the arc. The London, Ky., native also had six rebounds, five assists, a steal, and a key blocked shot down the stretch to help preserve the UK victory.
It was quite the turnaround from Kentucky’s 103-92 loss to Tennessee (24-7, 14-4 SEC) on Feb. 3 at Rupp Arena when Calipari’s club turned in a decent defensive effort against the Vols’ Knecht — holding the explosive wing to 16 points — but did not lead for a single second of play.
This time, Knecht looked like a serious player of the year contender, but he did not get the kind of help from his surrounding cast that UK featured. The Vols shot 38% from the field and went 12-of-36 from long range.
Santiago Vescovi and Josiah-Jordan James, who combined for 37 points in the first matchup, had just eight points on 2-for-14 shooting from the field.
*****
In this “Rapid Recap” feature, we touch on some quick-hitters from the UK victory…
KEY MOMENT:
Leading 42-39 early in the second half and facing a Tennessee crowd that was starting to give its team a boost, Kentucky went on a 26-15 spurt to take its largest lead of the game and put the pressure back on the Volunteers. The Wildcats had eight three-point possessions during the seven-minute run, including: three treys by Reed Sheppard; a trey and three free throws by Antonio Reeves; a 3-pointer and traditional three-point play by Rob Dillinham, and a triple from Justin Edwards to create just enough cushion at the end of the game to escape with a win.
GAME BALL:
Antonio Reeves & Reed Sheppard, Kentucky — We’re gonna have co-MVPs today. The Cats’ backcourt duo combined for 54 points, 27 apiece, to help overcome Dalton Knecht’s dominant performance for Tennessee. They went a combined 10-of-15 from deep and also combined for 13 rebounds.
BY THE NUMBERS:
3:19 – Time that Tennessee held the lead. The Volunteers led for all but 12 seconds in their Feb. 3 win over Kentucky at Rupp Arena.
5-2 – Kentucky’s record against ranked opponents this season. The Wildcats own four victories over teams ranked in the Top 10 of both the NCAA’s NET rankings and the Ken Pomeroy rankings.
15-0 – UK’s record when winning the rebound column. The Cats outrebounded the Vols 42-37.
40 – Points for Tennesee’s Dalton Knecht were the most by a UK opponent since Elston Turner of Texas A&M had 40 on January 12, 2013, at Rupp Arena.
64 – Points for Antonio Reeves in his last two regular-season finales for Kentucky. He had 37 points last season in a 88-79 win at Arkansas and 27 points today at Tennessee.
161-78 – Kentucky’s lead in the all-time series against Tennessee. The Cats improved to 59-53 in Knoxville with their fourth win in the last five trips to the Food City Center.
QUOTABLE:
“We just gotta be better at the end of these games.” — Kentucky head coach John Calipari on watching an 11-point lead get trimmed down to three in the final 55 seconds of play.
UP NEXT:
Kentucky returns to action next week in the SEC Tournament at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn. The Wildcats will either be the No. 2 seed or No. 3 seed, playing their first game on Friday.
Over the weekend, it was reported that the Kentucky Wildcats and coach Mark Pope had interest in former James Madison forward Justin McBride. Now, per Jacob Polacheck of Kentucky Sports Radio, McBride will take a visit to Lexington.
The report states that McBride will visit with Kentucky on Wednesday, Apr. 22. He had previously stated that he wanted to visit, but had to clear up some transcript issues first. It appears that things are worked out there now.
McBride is a 6’8″, 230 lb forward who has versatility. He averaged 15.3 points and 5.6 rebounds last season, but also made 40% of his three-point attempts, making him the kind of stretch big Pope likes to use. He could start, or be a valuable player off the bench.
Pope needs some recruiting wins, and he needs some depth for next year’s team. Right now, there are still more questions than answers, and Big Blue Nation is getting restless. We will update this story after his visit and more news becomes available.
Entering the weekend, Vanderbilt baseball had gotten swept in its only SEC series in which it hadn’t won the first game.
So the Commodores had a tough task in a series they badly needed after dropping the opener 5-2 on a walk-off grand slam after Vanderbilt’s best healthy starter, Connor Fennell, pitched well.
But the Commodores (24-17, 9-9 SEC) rebounded to take the series with an 8-7 win in the second game and a 13-6 win in the finale April 19. They did that despite not having any pitcher go more than three innings in either game. Though the pitching was still shaky at times — they issued more free passes than strikeouts in both of the wins — they worked out of enough jams to let the offense go to work.
Here’s what we learned from the series.
Will Hampton proves an unlikely hero for the offense
Vanderbilt got strong performances from a few of its typical top performers, including Braden Holcomb (6-for-13, four doubles) and Brodie Johnston (4-for-12, two home runs, three walks). But one of the biggest hits of the series came from the unlikeliest of sources.
Logan Johnstone was held out of the finale after colliding with Mike Mancini in Game 2, and in his place coach Tim Corbin opted to go with redshirt freshman Will Hampton in left field. Hampton had recorded just six college plate appearances, all of which were in nonconference games.
But Hampton reached in all three of his plate appearances against Kentucky, first on a single, then a walk. In the sixth inning, with the score tied, he came up with the bases loaded and two outs and blasted a grand slam, giving Vanderbilt its first lead.
Tyler Baird learns the ups and downs of being a closer
Freshman Tyler Baird has been Vanderbilt’s closer for the past three weeks, recording his first save April 2 against Texas A&M. But he learned the pitfalls that can come with that role in Game 1 against Kentucky. Summoned for an eight-out save with the Commodores leading 2-1, he retired the first five batters, but loaded the bases with nobody out in the ninth. He struck out the next two batters but then gave up the walk-off grand slam.
Baird returned for Game 3, this time attempting a five-out save and coming in with runners on first and second and one out with a three-run lead in the eighth inning. He allowed both inherited runners to score, but kept the lead and then had a scoreless ninth inning after Vanderbilt scored three runs in the top of the inning.
Baird’s emergence has been key for the Commodores, and the Game 3 bounce-back was especially important.
Vanderbilt’s RPI shows improvement
On April 15, Vanderbilt was 95th in RPI, a mark that wasn’t going to cut it for NCAA Tournament selection. But with a road series win against a Kentucky team that started the week in the top 20 of RPI, the Commodores moved all the way up to 75th, according to Warren Nolan.
While Vanderbilt will need to keep moving up — a top-50 mark would be ideal — the series win did a lot. In the next two weeks, it will face two top-five RPI teams in Alabama and Texas, giving more opportunity to improve its standing.
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on X @aria_gerson.
Power forward has been one of the positions that Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats have to fill with Andrija Jelavic and Mo Dioubate gone. The two players that Pope has had on campus at the power forward position are Syracuse’s Donnie Freeman and Colorado’s Sebastian Rancik. Both are really good players, but Freeman is better by a wide margin.
It has felt that entire time that Kentucky wanted Rancik as the backup to Freeman or a backup plan if they weren’t able to land Freeman. Well, Rancik just picked Florida State, so perhaps this is a sign that the Wildcats will land Freeman.
Big Blue Nation was torn on Rancik, but I do believe he would have been a really solid backup power forward. I personally didn’t want him to be the starting four for this team. It is clear that he wanted to go somewhere where he could be the guy at the four, so he will be heading to the ACC to play for FSU.
Now that Kentucky has missed on Rancik, it is very important that the Wildcats land Freeman soon. The problem with waiting on some of these players is the fact that the portal isn’t slowing down. If Pope targets two power forwards and misses on both of them, most of the good fours in the portal will be gone.
There will be some panic in Lexington if the Wildcats are not able to land Freeman, but I do believe the Wildcats are in a good spot to land the elite power forward. From the beginning, Freeman has been my top player for Kentucky in the portal, as he, plus Malachi Moreno, will give the Wildcats an elite frontcourt.
If Pope is able to land Freeman and Tyran Stokes to pair with Zoom Diallo, Alex Wilkins, Moreno, and Kam Williams, this could be the start of a really good team in Lexington. Hopefully, an announcement for where Freeman will transfer comes soon, and hopefully, this will be to play for Pope at Kentucky.
Fans of rival teams will say Pope “whiffed” on Rancik, but if this whiff was because the Wildcats are set to land Freeman soon, then it was more than worth it for Kentucky. If the Wildcats are able to land Freeman, it will officially be time for Big Blue Nation to start getting excited about the 2026-27 season. I expect a decision from Freeman to come within the next day or two.
Rancik would have been a solid backup four in Lexington but Freeman has been the guy from the beggining for this staff so if Kentucky lands him all is well. If the staff misses on Freeman not landing Rancik will look bad.
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