Same Old Story: Kentucky Wildcats can't close on the road versus Vanderbilt Commodores, fall 81-77

This loss is about as frustrating as they get.

Coming into the game, Kentucky had several keys to winning this game and for the most part were able to mark most of these “pre-game to do’s” off their list.

• Control the Vandy front court and not allow them to have career games on them – for the most part, you can check this one off.  The starting tandem of Goulbourne/Ezeli was held to 14 points and 8 rebounds.  Steve Tchiengang did have a good game with 12 points but he was held to two rebounds. It actually hurt that Tchiengang scored seven points over his average, but all in all, holding Goulbourne scoreless countered that. Kentucky actually won the rebound battle 29-28. 
• Limit  Jeffrey Taylor – check.  Taylor was held to 1-7 shooting and scored just four points. 
• Control turnovers –  For the game, the numbers were good as Kentucky turned the ball over just 8 times. 
• Shooting – For the game. Kentucky outshot Vandy  46.7% to 46.3%.

So what happened?  Two words.  John Jenkins.  The SEC’s leading scorer blazed the Wildcats for 32 points on 11-17 shooting and more importantly 6-10 on 3-pt free throws.  Whenever Vandy needed a key basket, Jenkins was there and sadly, Kentucky could do nothing to stop him.

And secondary to Jenkin’s outburst were key late game mental lapses by the Wildcats down the stretch which have dashed this teams chances of winning the SEC East, and have the Wildcats on the verge of having to play four straight games to win the SEC Tournament.

After going a very long stretch with out any turnovers, it all started to get away from the Cats. Terrence Jones had a three point play of the “and one” variety which pulled Kentucky to within 71-69 with 3:29 remaining.    Vandy missed a shot and DeAndre Liggins turned the ball over on the next possession and Jefffey Taylor made a layup for the Commodores.  Terrence Jones turned the ball over on the next trip down and a Jenkins layup made it 75-69 with 2:21 remaining.  Throw in the fact that Vanderbilt is a very good free throw shooting team and those two possessions essentially put the nails in the coffin on a hard fought game.

Once again, Kentucky played their hearts out on the road, just to have their fate decided by a key key possessions at crunch time.  That makes four road losses by a combined ten points that have in fact, sunk the ship on a SEC East title.  It’s unreasonable to expect perfection each time Kentucky plays, but for a large portion of the game, they gave it.  Kentucky had just 8 turnovers but three of them came in a crucial 1:30 stretch and that spelled the key breakdown of this game.

Terrence Jones led Kentucky with 25 points and 9 rebounds.  He also had 2 assists and could have finished with a couple more.  Brandon Knight had 20 points and knocked down 4-7 three pointers.  DeAndre Liggins had 10 points and Josh Harrellson grabbed 10 rebounds.

With 5 losses in SEC play, Kentucky needs to run the table and then needs some help to even get to the number two spot in the SEC East and avoid that dreaded Thursday first round game.  It’s not impossible, but in all reality, Kentucky needs to finish 6-0 the rest of the way and finally the schedule seems to favor them as four of these games are at the friendly confines of Rupp.  There’s still hope to finish 23-7 and grab a top four seed in the NCAA Tournament, but Kentucky’s margin of error is over.  Perfection is required the rest of the way.

For complete game stats, go here. 

Keep following www.http://wildcatbluenation.com for the best in Kentucky basketball and football news, rumors, and opinions. By Kentucky fans for Kentucky fans