Winter Storm Fern ravaged parts of Tennessee and Kentucky over the weekend, and inside Memorial Gymnasium, the Kentucky Wildcats were just as cold as the temperature outside.
In a performance that can only be described as a disaster, Kentucky trails a depleted Vanderbilt squad 43-23 at halftime.
It is the largest halftime deficit for Kentucky against Vanderbilt since 2008. And honestly? It felt even worse than the score suggests.
Ice cold start for the Cats
Kentucky opened the game 1-of-11 from the floor and started 2-of-4 from the free-throw line. Somehow, they managed to hang around early despite scoring just four points in the opening seven minutes, but the warning signs were flashing bright red.
Kentucky had four turnovers in that opening stretch, and Vanderbilt was +4 on the boards.
Mark Pope went to the bench early, looking for a spark from Jasper Johnson, but the freshman caught the turnover bugaboo immediately, coughing it up for an easy Vandy dunk that pushed the lead to 11.
Kentucky was busy rushing to nowhere
Everything for Kentucky in the first 10 minutes felt like it was in super speed, and not in a good way.
We know Pope wants to play fast, but you have to be in control of the throttle. Too many times, Kentucky looked like they were just rushing to be rushing, flailing into the lane and throwing up prayer layups or kicking out terrible passes.
The offense was completely disjointed. Missed layups, missed jumpers, bad passes, it was a carryover from the offensive struggles against Ole Miss, but amplified.
No Miles, no Collins, no problem
You have to remember: This is a Vanderbilt team playing without Duke Miles and Frankie Collins.
Those are their two best guards. It shouldn't look this easy.
Yet, the Commodores got whatever they wanted. They dominated the glass (27-16 rebounding advantage) and forced Kentucky to play a frantic, sloppy style.
Kentucky tried to go big with Mouhamed Dioubate and Malachi Moreno together, but Vanderbilt wisely spread the floor and rained fire. While Vandy started 5-of-10 from deep, Kentucky was sitting at 4-of-21 from the floor.
The "slop" returns
There was a brief glimmer of hope when Trent Noah knocked down a three to cut the lead to 11. But just as quickly as it appeared, the slop returned.
An aggressive Otega Oweh got lost on defense, allowing a wide-open three. On the next possession, he threw a lazy pass to Moreno that Vandy picked off and turned into another triple.
Suddenly, the lead ballooned. Mark Pope was forced to call his second timeout with 3:40 remaining, down 19 points.
At that moment, Kentucky had 7 made field goals. Vanderbilt had 7 made threes.
The Cats look a lot like the team that got blitzed by Gonzaga in this same city earlier this year. They have 20 minutes to figure it out, or this is going to be a humiliating night in Nashville.
Halftime box score
Score: Vanderbilt 43, Kentucky 23
Kentucky Leaders
- Denzel Aberdeen: 10 pts, 4-8 FG
- Otega Oweh: 6 pts, 3-11 FG, 3 TO
- Trent Noah: 3 pts, 1-2 FG
- Collin Chandler: 2 pts, 0-4 FG
Team Stats
- FG: 9-32 (28%)
- 3PT: 2-11 (18%)
- FT: 3-8 (38%)
- Rebounds: 16 (Vanderbilt 27)
- Turnovers: 7
Vanderbilt Leaders
- Tyler Tanner: 12 pts, 5-12 FG, 4 ast, 3 stl
- Devin McGlockton: 9 pts, 3-5 FG
- Tyler Nickel: 8 pts, 3-4 FG
Vanderbilt Team Stats
- FG: 16-34 (47%)
- 3PT: 7-14 (50%)
- Rebounds: 27 (8 Offensive)
- Assists: 10
- Steals: 5
That's right Vandy has made 2 less 3's than Kentucky's made shots total. Disaster.