NASHVILLE — Vanderbilt wanted to bounce back after an ugly road loss in the SEC.
Mission accomplished, in roaring fashion.
Jermaine Beal and Lance Goulbourne each scored 17 points as Vanderbilt routed Kentucky 77-64 Tuesday night, handing the Wildcats their fourth loss in six games and giving a sellout Memorial Gym crowd plenty of opportunity to cheer.
“I felt the court shaking,” said Goulbourne, a freshman who had a season-high off the bench. “I’ve never felt that in my basketball career. It’s just a great feeling to know everybody’s behind you, and we’re trying to play to our strengths and give them a show as well as take care of business.”
Kentucky (18-8, 7-4 SEC) came in part of a three-way tie atop the SEC’s Eastern Division with Tennessee and South Carolina after two straight wins. But the Wildcats played a second straight game without sophomore center Patrick Patterson because of a sprained ankle, and his teammates didn’t give enough help to Jodie Meeks, the nation’s fourth-leading scorer averaging 25.8 points a game.
Meeks scored 26 on 6-of-21 shooting. He credited the Commodores with playing good defense.
“They tried to deny me the ball as much as possible,” Meeks said. “I had a tough time making shots tonight.”
A.J. Stewart added 11 off the bench for Kentucky before fouling out.
“We feel fortunate to beat them, and obviously one of the best players in this league didn’t play in the game today,” Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said of Patterson. “We acknowledge that as well.”
Vanderbilt (16-9, 5-6) now has won four of its last five, bouncing back from a 69-50 loss at Tennessee over the weekend.
“That’s more like it,” Stallings said.
This series dominated for so long by Kentucky now has swung Vandy’s way with six wins in eight games against the Wildcats, including four straight in Memorial Gym. The cheers for every 3 and lead swing didn’t surprise Beal, a junior who has seen this before.
“I know when everybody’s here and it gets loud, the atmosphere, it’s amazing. It was nice,” he said.
Commodores center A.J. Ogilvy missed Kentucky’s 70-60 win over Vanderbilt in the SEC opener for both teams on Jan. 10 because of plantar fasciitis. He compensated by scoring 15 points. Jeffery Taylor added 14.
The Commodores took control of a game tied at 30 at halftime by scoring the first nine points of the second half. Kentucky got within 45-41 on a pair of Stewart free throws with 12:40 left. Goulbourne hit a 3-pointer, and he later gave the Commodores their biggest lead at 60-44 with a 3 from the right corner that brought a huge roar from the sellout crowd.
“We were in good shape in halftime, and when we came back, they took the ball from us and got on a roll,” Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie said. “We got further away from helping each other, the further ahead Vanderbilt got.”
Kentucky could only close within nine down the stretch three times, the last on a Meeks 3. Beal answered with two free throws with 2:53 left to push the lead back to double digits, sealing the victory. Beal was a perfect 10-of-10 at the line where Vandy was 32-of-40.
“They deserved them,” Gillespie said after his team went only 18-of-23 at the line. “They were very aggressive. They played well as a team, they moved around, and they deserved to win.”
Vandy shot poorly in the first half but went to halftime tied at 30 after hitting 15 of 18 at the free throw line. It was a physical and messy first half in which the score was tied seven times and swapped six others.
The Commodores led 16-10 when Beal sunk a pair of free throws after referee Tony Greene called a technical on Gillispie before a free throw attempt with 12:07 to go.
That only sparked the Wildcats, who went on a 14-2 spurt. The run was capped by a pair of free throws by Meeks after a technical on Ogilvy for a forearm to DeAndre Liggins as he drove into the lane. Ogilvy answered with four straight free throws to tie it again at 24.
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Comments » 35
NorthwestVol writes:
Sorry cats...
huntined#565710 writes:
Man that loss was a lot like our Auburn.. Makes our game really important tomorrow.. Also just shows any team can beat any team in the sec. All it takes is have a little off night.
tnman1025 writes:
I'm on the Vandy-UK game board and seeing all the UK fans talk about the refs is hilarious. It's an awesome feeling when you see your rival take a huge loss like this, especially down the stretch.
Timed_vol (Inactive) writes:
well, not exactly..we lost a heartbreaker to Auburn. Still you are right. It comes down to matchups and the aforementioned 'off night'.
yabadabadoo1026 writes:
tnman,control your amusement at the UK ref talk---we do plenty of that whinin ourselves round here---check out the threads on last 2 lady vol losses where we played wretched and got killed in every stat and we have some there repeatedly blaming refs for it even on home losses where some there want to claim we never get a call there either
gnm53108 writes:
Hehehe
tennesseebee writes:
no whitpine they probably sealed our fate. Hope patterson,s still out. Watch that film,boys!!!
tennesseebee writes:
Sorry, I meant whitepine
VolJunkie writes:
Vandy is to UK as UT is to FLA; doesn't seem to matter what their records are, they play them tough. Hope UT does not look past a tough game with Ole Miss tonight, we can run the table and claim the SEC East ... nice!
Go Vols!
b_neas writes:
We think we have it bad with a undisciplined team. Friggin Liggins is a maniac with the ball, Miller turns it over seems like every time, and Porter is the biggest liability they have on the floor. KY fans must be pulling their hair out watching this team. Luckily they have superman (unlike us) to save them most games.
johnlg00#206211 writes:
The outcome of that game was no mystery. Without Patterson on offense, Vandy could sell out against Meeks. They followed him all over the court, making him work to get the ball. Then when he shot it, they had a hand in his face. If he drove, the others left their men to help, daring somebody else to beat them. Without Patterson on defense, Vandy was determined to drive the ball to the basket at every opportunity, hence all the Vandy free throws. Patterson is the real key to that team, not Meeks, great as he is. Think UT in the Allan Houston days. Some games, Meeks will get his points even without Patterson inside, but they will have a hard time beating decent teams without him. If Patterson is healthy enough to contribute against us, we COULD beat UK but it will be a LOT harder. Even if he doesn't, UK can still be physical on defense against us because we don't usually shoot free throws as well as Vandy. Our best chance against UK is to cover Meeks the same way Vandy did. The best guy we have for that would be JP, but it remains to be seen if he would be willing to sacrifice most of the rest of his game to stay with Meeks the whole game. We definitely DON'T want to get into the mindset of, "Hey, we killed Vandy and then they killed UK, so we should kill UK, too." Every game is a NEW ball game, and you KNOW UK will throw everything they have against us. We need a solid game plan and need to be ready to put out every effort we can muster if we expect to win.
VolFanNC writes:
This shows why they need Patterson. I watched Meeks hit a shot from way outside the 3 point line with 3 people guarding him. But without another legitimate scorer, everyone's game plan will be to simply double and triple Meeks.
Hopefully we'll win tonight. Need 3 out of the next 5 for me to feel real comfortable about NCAA tournament.
huntined#565710 writes:
I understand what you are saying but I was not looking at the score but the fact that I think most people thought KY would win that game as we thought TENN would beat AUB. Those loses really hurt.
UKblue02 writes:
Did i miss anyone celebrating about us getting "beat" last night, well let me set you straight we were thumped LOL. PP is supposedly ready to play Sat. and better be or we are in trouble. Word of caution beware of Ole Miss or you'll be "blue" like me this morning.
Waldorf writes:
Rough day for Bourbon Billy.
First this - http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/espner-...
then Vandy trounces them. Man. Got to hurt.
Vols can put an absolute dagger in the Cats season Saturday. I hope they show up.
UKblue02 writes:
Thank you, i've been on here some before and made a few comments, i am not here to badmouth, trash talk (unless provoked) or be a troublemaker, i like to hear what other people are saying about their team and ours, i enjoy talking about BB. As one of the posters on here said, "I hate UK but like to talk sports with them" that is my goal, I'm a true big blue fan all the way, but i think talking good basketball will make more friends than enemies. P.S. i tell it like it is, and we "sucked like a new Hoover vaccuum last night" !
UKblue02 writes:
Well, the sun was in our eyes, the ball wasn't round enough, a couple of players had a bone in their leg, someone slipped sleeping powder in our drinks, That's all i can think of except Vandy played better than us, but, that couldn't be it.
VolJunkie writes:
Any more like you at home? ;)
Most on here like to talk BB as well, regardless of affiliation. Unfortunately many of those conversations degenerate into commentaries on demographics, quality of life, family trees, etc. It is sort of like family where you can say what you want to about each other but god help the outsider who makes a similar comment.
Welcome to the party ...
Go Vols!
UKblue02 writes:
i have heard all those family slurs, demographics things all my life, but my opinion is, the people who do all that downgrading talk about us just makes me feel better about living here. That keeps those kind of people out of our area or state, which in the end makes us the winner! GO CATS.......I hope!
UKblue02 writes:
Thank you Dr. and may your bones never become brittle, LOL
UKblue02 writes:
Agreed, Billy G does some strange things with the players, I knew we were in trouble last night when Porter came out with that sleeve on his arm.
givehim6 writes:
This years SEC east reminds me of the 2007 footboll season, everyone is beating some body. Coach peral if UT does luck up and win the east, do not let it go to your head like Fulmore did. All it will mean is a lucky season.
Down_The_Field writes:
blue....you're right and i can't believe i've agreed with a cat fan whatever the point.
i think this ole miss game is as must win as it gets. at 16 wins and two winable home games left, we need to deliver on the winable road games for this team to reach 20 wins. i guess 19 would get us in the dance, but i'd like to see this team hit 20.
i'm thinking that if we can win against ole miss, miss st, and bama and win one from uk, uf, and usc would be huge. i still don't see more than 3 wins out of the last 6.
Down_The_Field writes:
doc, no clowning around tonight with the ladies. we need some serious mojo on this game tonight. i don't want the bones to leave your sight.
huntined#565710 writes:
Man it sure would be nice to have a player hit 26 and they say he was SHUT DOWN?? Meeks should be A.A this year. He is sure one of the best players on any floor this year.
johnlg00#206211 writes:
Thanks for the warning. We know, or certainly should, that Ole Miss won't be a pushover and we REALLY know we will get UK's best shot with or without PP. I don't think any but the most ignorant and immature are "celebrating" as such; most of us realize UK was playing with one hand tied behind their backs. If anything, we were glad because the loss put UK behind us temporarily in the standings, but we also realize that the loss will only give UK more incentive against us, not that they ever need it. Also, Vandy at home has ALWAYS been a different team than Vandy on the road.
VolPatrick writes:
I was at this game last night. It was anything but a rout. Vanderbilt shot 40 free throws. 40! They were in the bonus with around twelve to go in BOTH halves. I've never seen the ticky-tack calls, on both sides, that I saw last night. It was tied at half, then Vandy made a little run to start off the second half but it was very even after that, until the last two minutes when it went totally away from UK.
I went as a neutral, in spite of growing up in Nashville and hating the Blue Mist more than almost anything on earth. It was a great crowd, a great scene, and a fine example of why college athletics are superior to professional entertainment.
Also, for you Ashley Judd fans, an update.
She is still just as fine as can be.
johnlg00#206211 writes:
You're cool with me so far, for what that's worth. Most of us are glad to talk with fans of other schools as long as they are civil. Can't speak for all "Vol fans" on here, though.
UKblue02 writes:
Will wonders never cease, UK and UT fans agree, but, seriously i think Ole Miss is something like 8 and 2 at home that may not be exactly right but i remember they had a lot more wins than losses at home anyway, We need 2 more wins to get 20 and like Tenn,we have a hard last few games, without PP i don't think we'll make it to 20 may be NIT for us, if we don't win a few games in the SEC tournament.
UKblue02 writes:
Thank you i appreciate that, like you some "fans" do like to cause trouble (UK fans included) If someone wants to debate BB then i'm in, but usually don't respond to the uncivil ones.
johnlg00#206211 writes:
I saw a few missed calls and a couple of non-calls that should have been made, but the overall foul discrepancy was, IMHO, adequately explained by Vandy constantly driving the ball to the basket while UK was mostly trying to set up Meeks outside. I have often thought that Vandy seems to get a LOT of "home cooking" from the refs, but it didn't really look that way to me last night.
ernsberger writes:
I'm a Vols fan, so I love that Kentucky lost, but outside of who played in this game, I'm tired of the adjectives that reporters are using, saying that a 13 point game is a rout. It's a nice win for Vandy, but certainly not a rout. TN beating GA was a rout.
Down_The_Field writes:
there's where i disagree. i think you'll get at least 2 and the dance.
didn't you say PP will play this sat?? i hope he does. unlike a lot of fans, i always want to play my rival at full strength. for 1 i want the guys to be healthy and 2 i want NO excuses..play the best our oponent has.
while i hope not, i think you'll get sat game and there's 3 + 1 after that. id say your a sinch.
ole miss, yep i'll take our best. didn't they hold meeks to 80?? lol.
blue...you're living testamony that lopers can be class acts...maybe our flar-duh and mempus lopers can take notice.
UKblue02 writes:
I don't have any inside scoop about PP playing, and like you i want to see a decisive winner Sat. both teams full strenght. I think Billy G kept PP out last night for good measure thought Vandy might be a winnable game without him.WRONG, but i think we have to have 20 wins for the big dance, i think Tenn. could get by with 18 or 19 due to their strength of schegule or they should anyway.
UKblue02 writes:
What's a schegule? i meant schedule.
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