Kentucky players prepared for emotional Senior Night, but still locked in on Vanderbilt

For the first time since 1975, Kentucky men’s basketball will honor six seniors on Senior Night. John Calipari has never had more than four seniors on a Kentucky roster during his time as head coach, but special circumstances have set up a potentially extra special evening in Rupp Arena on Wednesday.

Oscar Tshiebwe, arguably the biggest fan-favorite in Kentucky basketball history and the reigning national player of the year, will receive the biggest ovation of them all. He’s set endless records in just two on-court seasons with the Wildcats, putting up video games along the way and etching his name into college basketball lore. He’ll be joined on Senior Night by five of his teammates, most of them having spent at least two seasons in Lexington and all of them taking completely different paths to get here.

Jacob Toppin (three seasons at Kentucky) started at Rhode Island before transferring to UK as a raw, athletic talent. Now a senior, he’s a full-time starter who’s overcome some troubles and is currently playing the best basketball of his life. CJ Fredrick and Sahvir Wheeler (two seasons each at Kentucky) came to Lexington by way of Iowa and Georgia, respectively. Injuries have complicated their careers as Wildcats, but both have made significant impacts whenever they’ve stepped on the floor.

Antonio Reeves is the lone fresh face of the group, transferring over from Illinois State after three seasons with the Redbirds. He’s quickly become one of Calipari’s all-time greatest shooting threats in under a year’s time. Then there’s Brennan Canada, Lexington’s own who started his career as a walk-on before working his way onto scholarship just this season.

Six close teammates and friends, but six vastly different paths taken to where they are now.

For the Big Blue Nation, which is more accustomed to watching players leave via the NBA draft instead of sending them off with flowers on Senior Night, will be especially excited to cheer on these six uniquely special ‘Cats. The pregame festivities will be emotional for every single person in the building. Arrive early for the 7:00 p.m. tip if you plan on shedding a tear or two.

But once those six are done with Senior Night introductions and Calipari has addressed all of them one by one, a basketball game will have to be played. Over the last decade, Senior Night has been more of a gimmick than an actual ceremony for Kentucky, with seniors being few and far between.

This time around, however, the emotions will be high and heavy. Half of the team’s scholarship players will go into the matchup knowing it could/will be their last time playing in front of the Rupp Arena crowd. They’ll go from reflecting on the memories they’ve made together right into a big-time SEC showdown against one of the league’s hottest teams, Vanderbilt.

“Honestly, I didn’t think I was gonna be in college for this long, but you know, everything works out for the best. It’s God’s plan,” Toppin said during Tuesday’s pre-Senior Night press conference. “I’m truly blessed to be able to play for Kentucky basketball, it’s been a honor. The emotions, it’s gonna be a lot because I’ve been here for three years, lot of ups and downs, lot of blood, sweat, and tears, so it’s gonna be emotional but at the end of the day, we’ve gotta come in tomorrow and fight and win the basketball game, so that’s the most important thing.

“But it’s been truly a blessing to play for a program like Kentucky, it’s like no other. Not a lot of people can say they did this, so I’m definitely gonna soak it all in and take it all in and understand how blessed and how honored I am to be here.”

Kentucky handled Vanderbilt when these two teams first met, winning 69-53 down in Nashville and capping off a four-game winning streak for the ‘Cats. At the time, Vandy was 10-10 on the season and just 3-4 in SEC play with the loss. But since then? The Commodores have gone 6-3 with wins over teams such as Tennessee, Auburn, and Florida twice. Vanderbilt’s best player, seven-foot center Liam Robbins, a senior in his own right, will enter Rupp on a seven-game stretch of 22.0 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 4.6 blocks per contest.

Even though Kentucky is playing its best basketball of the season — winners of four straight — Vanderbilt is no slouch and will come in with the intent to spoil the party. A win for the ‘Dores would put them within a half-game of sneaking into a top-four SEC seed, which would give them a double-bye in next week’s tournament.

“Me personally, I feel like I’m just gonna be locked into the game, honestly,” Toppin added. “Like yeah it’s my last game at Rupp Arena, but that’s definitely crazy to imagine. At the end of the day, we have to worry about the game. It’s a sport we love to play and hopefully we can play it for a long time. I’m just worried about winning (on Wednesday).”

After questions just a few weeks ago surrounding whether or not Kentucky would even make the 2023 NCAA Tournament, the ‘Cats are now firmly in the field of 68 and fighting for better seed positioning. Winning one of the final two league games would ensure a double bye in the SEC Tournament. There isn’t exactly an overwhelming amount of pressure to come out and beat Vanderbilt like there was earlier this month, but that’s not how these seniors are approaching it.

“For me I would probably say, I never had a dream I’d graduate from college. This will be probably a little bit emotional. I don’t know,” Tshiebwe said. “But like (Jacob) said we’re gonna be locked in for the game, we’re gonna be locked in for the game (against Vanderbilt). It’s gonna be big for us because I still cannot believe how fast these four years flew by. Seems like it was yesterday I was a freshman, but we just gonna be locked into the game and just try to finish out.

“We cannot really focus too much on Senior Night, we just gotta make sure we’re locked in.”