KSR's takeaways from Kentucky's breakthrough win at Vanderbilt

Two weeks ago, Kentucky lost to the worst team in the Southeastern Conference in South Carolina and sat firmly outside the NCAA Tournament field. The Wildcats were a dysfunctional mess, discombobulated on the floor and failing to see eye-to-eye away from it. “The only thing that brings about change is a crisis,” John Calipari said of the loss to the Gamecocks. “That was a crisis.”

Two short weeks later, Kentucky has now won four consecutive games, the latest being a road victory at Vanderbilt in the team’s most complete performance of the season.

Shorthanded due to injury — the team’s leading scorer and rebounder, Liam Robbins, was out, as was four-star freshman Lee Dort — the Commodores were outmatched inside from the opening tip. The path to an Oscar Tshiebwe video game number night was clear.

Would the Wildcats be able to slow down Vanderbilt from beyond the arc, though? How would they respond to Jerry Stackhouse’s creative offensive sets to find open looks? Those were the keys going into the matchup, a gameplan designed to limit a top-50 offense in college basketball from putting points on the board.

Mission accomplished, as Kentucky defeated Vandy by a final score of 69-53, holding the opposition to its lowest point total since November. And then on the other end, the Wildcats managed to knock down 56.4% of their shots overall and 37.5% from three — they matched total 3-point makes at six apiece.

All in all, it was by far the team’s most complete performance of the season, leading for 35 minutes and by as many as 20 points in a dominant effort in Nashville.

Sahvir Wheeler shines off the bench

How often is a four-point, five-assist, two-turnover effort the first major takeaway of a double-digit road win? Considering the polarizing topic that has been Sahvir Wheeler all season long, it’s hard to start anywhere else.

The senior point guard has played sparingly as of late, missing the Tennessee win due to injury before playing just 11 minutes vs. Georgia and eight minutes vs. Texas A&M — one second-half minute in each. And with him off the floor, the team has been wildly efficient on both ends, the best the Wildcats have looked all season. His teammates and coaches did their part to keep his confidence up — “We need him,” Chin Coleman said Monday — but the numbers continued to back up the eye test.

Cason Wallace may have been handed the keys, and rightfully so, but Wheeler proved Tuesday that he’s still perfectly capable of taking a joy ride every now and then. Playing 22 minutes off the bench, the 5-foot-9 guard was the spark plug Kentucky needed early before pulling away late, helping push the lead to 20 with 5:51 to go — part of a four-point, three-assist, one-steal, one-turnover second half.

“The game changed the minute he walked in,” Calipari said after the win.

He proved to be the perfect complementary piece, focused on keeping the ball moving as a connector rather than simply hunting assists as the lead guard. That’s been a significant issue of his up to this point in his career. And it helped that he had shooters around him for a change to maximize spacing during his time on the floor, his own “Basketball Benny” lineup.

It was a step in the right direction, but it doesn’t mean Calipari is planning to blindly thrust Wheeler back into the starting lineup and ignore the team’s first two-plus months of struggles. The best players will continue to play, and yes, Wallace is clearly that guy right now.

But that doesn’t mean the senior ball handler can’t be a star in his own reserve role, the Kentucky head coach’s current message to the team.

“Now, he may have to come off the bench, but so what? Doesn’t mean I don’t love you or I’m not for you, I won’t be there the rest of your life as long as I’m living,” Calipari said. “But someone’s playing better, so they’re going to be in. That’s a team. Then you accept that and say, ‘I’m ready. What’s my role? I’m going to do this.'”

Two free throws and five called fouls

How often can a team shoot just two free throws all game and draw five total fives (zero against the starters) but still win a true SEC road game by 16 points? Kentucky somehow managed to do it inside Memorial Gym in Nashville.

Historically speaking, it’s the fewest fouls by an opponent since December 28, 1956, a day Virginia Tech committed just four total fouls. Elsewhere, it was the Wildcats’ fewest free-throw attempts in a single game (2) since Feb. 3, 2001 at South Carolina (2).

On the other end, Vanderbilt knocked down 11 of its 12 shots at the line on 15 total foul calls against the Wildcats. A 10-point swing there in favor of the Commodores, with both teams also hitting six 3-pointers apiece. That’s with Oscar Tshiebwe *only* going for 15 points and 13 rebounds in a game that could have seen him go for double each of those categories considering the team’s tough injury report.

Tell Jerry Stackhouse that’s how it was going to unfold beforehand and he’d assume he would be celebrating once the clock struck zero. Instead, Kentucky turned out a statement 69-53 win.

Antonio Reeves is emerging as Kentucky’s go-to scorer

A big reason for that victory? Senior guard Antonio Reeves, who led the team in scoring with 16 points on 7-14 shooting and 2-5 from three to go with three rebounds, one assist and two turnovers in 27 minutes.

Subbing in with the Wildcats down at the first TV timeout (15:29), Reeves knocked down his first 3-point attempt 23 seconds later, the start of a seven-point run in two-plus minutes for the dynamic scorer. He then knocked down a floater to close out the first half, giving Kentucky a seven-point lead.

Reeves followed it up with a back-to-back-to-back scoring run between the 12:02 and 9:26 marks in the second, capped off by a 3-pointer to push the lead to 14 points. The closest it got from that point on is 12 points with the most being 20 (5:51 remaining).

The 6-foot-5 scoring guard had developed an early reputation of disappearing in big games, struggling to find his shot against Michigan State, Gonzaga and UCLA, among others. During SEC play, though, Reeves has found his confidence and is now the team’s go-to scoring punch at all three levels. Taking at least 10 shots in six straight games — over 14 in the last two — he’s got the ultimate green light and isn’t afraid to take advantage of it.

“Antonio walked right in the game, bang, made it,” Calipari said. “He’s on a different level from where he’s been.”

Half the battle has been finding ways to put Reeves on the floor alongside CJ Fredrick, giving the team two high-level shooters alongside other playmakers and facilitators. Teams can’t shut down both players from deep, and if they do, that almost certainly means Tshiebwe is on an island down low by himself waiting to dominate one-on-one. Same can be said for Cason Wallace and even Jacob Toppin, for that matter. You have to pick your battles when defending this team, and tonight, they failed that battle against the two snipers on the perimeter. Reeves and Fredrick combined for 26 points on 11-22 shooting overall and 4-10 from three, with the latter adding five assists, two rebounds and a steal in 28 minutes.

Timely makes with growing consistency.

A very real breakthrough

Look, the pieces have always been there for this Kentucky team. That’s what was so frustrating to open the year, watching a group of standout individual talents not know how to play together as a unit. Any one player was capable of scoring 25 points on a given night, but could two or three, maybe four thrive at the same time? That hadn’t happened yet. And they were actively regressing by the game, resulting in legitimate long-term concerns.

Maybe this was a group that just wasn’t capable of coming together? Sometimes the pieces just don’t fit, and that certainly seemed to be the case here. A square peg, round hole dilemma.

Then Knoxville happened, the Wildcats’ first taste of success against a quality foe. They followed it up with a strong second half vs. Geogia, then again vs. Texas A&M to make it three straight. Then finally on Tuesday, the first 40-minute effort from Kentucky featuring the right lineups, ball movement, shot selection and energy. It wasn’t a crazy individual effort willing the team to victory or a lackluster performance from the competition paving a path for UK to squeak by. It simply came down to everyone coming together to do their jobs — being good, not necessarily great. Because when that much talent comes together and plays well all around, it’s almost always more than enough.

The team is now smiling and having fun playing these games, something that couldn’t be said just two weeks ago. They hit rock bottom and are now raking in the rewards that come with digging themselves out.

For the first time since the start of the year, it’s acceptable to start dreaming big again with this group. The breakthrough is very real.