Kentucky
Kentucky Played with Only Two Healthy (and Inexperienced) Cornerbacks
The stars were aligning for a disaster class. For years, Josh Heupel’s uptempo attack put the Kentucky defensive backs out on islands and wrecked the Wildcat defense. Three cornerbacks were sidelined before the game even started. Then J.Q. Hardaway started cramping, leaving only two healthy players at the position.
Despite the incredibly difficult circumstances, the defense held up their end of the bargain for most of the game, limiting the Vols to 21 points over the first three quarters of the football game and only one reception of 30 yards or more.
“Overall, considering the situation we were in with being extremely thin, I thought we held up okay,” Mark Stoops said after the loss.
“The inexperience showed late with not being tight enough on that third down there late. We have to tighten up there. Obviously, we had an inexperienced guy out there, but we have to coach him. We have to do a better job with that play. But overall, in a tough situation and being down a lot of guys, they fought pretty hard.”
Mark Stoops is referring to two third downs in the fourth quarter that Kentucky could not get off the field, ultimately leading to the game-clinching touchdown for the Vols with five minutes to play. A few drives before, there was one more third down that could have swung the game Kentucky’s way.
Addison Almost Made a Game-Changing Interception
True freshman Terhyon Nichols has logged legitimate reps all season, but tonight needed to play starter’s reps. He shared some of them with Nasir Addison, a true sophomore primarily used in special teams that was tasked to play 34 snaps at cornerback.
Neither looked like a fish out of water. Addison may have gotten away with a PI early in the game, but late in the game he damn near flipped the script. Pressure in the backfield forced Nico Iamaleava‘s third-down pass to sail way off-target. Addison was there and got two hands on the ball, but he couldn’t catch the interception. If it wasn’t a pick six, Kentucky would have started the ball inside the red zone down 14-10. Instead, the Wildcats threw an interception of their own on the ensuing possession.
Even though the game-changing play didn’t happen, there was plenty of good sprinkled in. Nichols had another impressive pass break-up and Addison only allowed two receptions on four targets.
“They’re some ballplayers, real life. They love the game of football, Nas and Rhy. Shout out to both of them, and JQ on the other side, handling his business,” Zion Childress said after the game. “We’re thin, but if we get prepared by the best, everybody’s going to be ready to play and when those guys’ names were called, they made plays.”
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.
Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow
Kentucky
Kentucky is poised to land either Donnie Freeman or Sebastian Rancik this weekend, per report
Jones posted on Twitter that “Kentucky will have (absent a major change) either Freeman or Rancik by tomorrow,” while also noting the Wildcats still need to add another shooter and another big to round out the roster.
One of the top targets is Donnie Freeman, a 6-foot-9, 205-pound sophomore forward transferring from Syracuse. Freeman arrived in Lexington on Tuesday night and began his visit on Wednesday before leaving without a commitment. While there was concern he could land at UConn, that visit has since been canceled, leaving Kentucky and St. John’s as the top teams.
Freeman averaged 16.5 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game last season, while adding nearly a block and a steal per contest. He shot 47.4% from the field but 30.2% from 3-point range across 23 games.
The other option is Sebastian Rancik, a 6-foot-11, 220-pound sophomore forward transferring from Colorado. Rancik visited Kentucky starting Wednesday through Thursday and brings a versatile skill set, averaging 12.3 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 2 assists per game while shooting 33.1% from 3.
Either Freeman or Rancik would provide a significant boost at the power forward position for head coach Mark Pope. Kentucky has already added guards Zoom Diallo and Alex Wilkins in the portal.
-
Pittsburg, PA4 minutes agoFrom ‘Steel City’ to ‘eds and meds’: As Pittsburgh welcomes NFL Draft, it isn’t so easily defined anymore
-
Augusta, GA10 minutes agoGeoff Duncan campaigns in Augusta ahead of Election Day
-
Washington, D.C16 minutes agoThe director of the Congressional Budget Office—known for its gloomy national debt data—is very optimistic that a crisis will be avoided entirely | Fortune
-
Cleveland, OH22 minutes ago3 seriously injured after crash on I-90 in Cleveland: EMS
-
Austin, TX28 minutes agoAmerica 250 celebration: Texans who fought for independence honored in Austin – Texas – The Black Chronicle
-
Alabama34 minutes agoAlabama AHSAA softball key dates and top teams approaching the 2026 playoffs
-
Alaska40 minutes ago‘We never forgot her’: Friends, family of longtime Alaska teacher gather for 100th birthday celebration
-
Arizona46 minutes agoTrying to beat the heat: Addressing rising temperatures in Southern Arizona