Vanderbilt Downs Kentucky, Wins SEC Tournament
Ah, the smell of victory. After coming oh so close, twice, to beating the number one team in the country, the Vanderbilt Commodores have just won the Southeastern Conference Tournament 71-64 over the Kentucky Wildcats in impressive fashion. Kentucky, though, has nothing to worry about. I doubt the committee is going to drop them past a 2 seed if they do punish them.
Vanderbilt was led by forward Jeffery Taylor, who scored 18 points on 6 of 13 shooting. The Commodores also had two other players in double figures, Festus Ezeil and John Jenkins, who scored 17 points each. Sharpshooting big man Brad Tinsley only had 5 five points.
Kentucky was led by Darius Miller with 16 points, while getting solid contributions from Anthony Davis and Terrence Jones who each had 12 points, and Doron Lamb who had 11.
Kentucky was able to create havoc for Vanderbilt all game long, swatting away shot after shot. But the Commodores kept coming. After being down 59-54 with just under 8 minutes to play, Vanderbilt clamped down on defense, Kentucky’s shooting went cold when they had looks, and Vanderbilt went on a 17-5 run to close the game out.
Kentucky was able to get a lot of missed shots, which resulted in 12 offensive rebounds. Surprisingly, for a team much more talented athletically, the Wildcats were out-rebounded 36-30. It appeared to me that Vanderbilt just wanted the game more. Jeffery Taylor was able to pull down 7 rebounds from his guard position, which really helped out the Commodores.
One advantage for Vanderbilt was also their aggressiveness. They forced 22 fouls on Wildcats players, which resulted in 32 free throw opportunities to just 19 for Kentucky. However, they only made 21 of those 32, but it was good enough for this afternoon, as they are the champions for the first time since 1951.
Congrats to the Commodores, and now, they have their eyes on an even bigger prize.
Follow Paul Troupe on Twitter @gamin4HIM
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