Kentucky basketball: Make that 2 straight Wildcat wins by fending off Vandy

Who wants to deliver that dagger?

Calipari will gladly hand you the dagger to deliver the fatal blow to teams, but the question he always wants to know is simply which of his players wants to throw it.

Lately, that player has been Mintz. The graduate transfer from Creighton has already delivered against Vandy earlier this season for the winner and iced it against Arkansas. While he didn’t deliver the final nail his 3-pointer with 1:41 to play gave Kentucky a 74-68 cushion.

Calipari said it takes a tough man to step up.

"“We have some other guys who aren’t throwing daggers. They’re going o-fer. And they’re all big plays and I’m saying, a guy that throws daggers is not afraid to miss the game-winner. He’s not afraid to miss the shot that could change the game because he’s not thinking in those terms. He’s thinking ‘if I miss it, I can’t believe it, give it to me again and I’m taking it again.’ But I’ll tell you, it takes a confident person, a tough, mentally tough person, to be able to do that. And again, those free throws that those guys made, those were daggers, now. Those were daggers, too.”"

He again led the way with 18 points, five rebounds, and three assists despite fouling out in the final minutes. Mintz is the man you want taking that clutch shot no matter where on the floor it’s from.

In this game, it was Toppin at the free-throw line who had the Commodores in his sights to seal the win.