By Keith Taylor
special to NKyTribune
The road to a second-straight Southeastern Conference championship won’t be an easy path for Kentucky.
Two of the Wildcats’ final three games are away, starting with Saturday’s contest at Vanderbilt. Kentucky holds a one-game lead over South Carolina and Texas A&M, while the Commodores and LSU are two games behind the Wildcats in the latest conference standings with three games remaining in the regular season.
“It’s going to be hard for us because of the schedules,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said. “But, we’re going to play the games and I’m more concerned about us getting better. We have two tough road games and a team that beat our brains in down there (LSU). We could lose all three. But, if we’re playing at a high level and doing what we’re supposed to, we’ll be going into the tournament and we’ll be fine. We’ll build in the SEC Tournament. You can’t really tell. Right now it doesn’t look promising, but we’ll see.”
While the Wildcats (21-7, 11-4 SEC) are trying to keep a firm grip on the top spot, the Commodores (17-11, 9-6) are fighting for their postseason lives.
The stakes are indeed high for Kentucky and its opponents — Vandy, Florida and LSU — in the final three regular-season games, but Calipari knows what to expect, especially on the road.
“Every team we play is like, ‘We win this game then we don’t have to win anymore.’ Really? You have 18 games left,” Calipari said. “So, I don’t think for us it’s every team plays with desperation when they play us. And on the road, it’s them along with a sellout crowd that they haven’t had all year. Or it’s their biggest crowd and all of that stuff.”
In the first meeting between the two foes, the Wildcats defeated the Commodores 76-57 on Jan. 23 at Rupp Arena. The blowout came a week following a disappointing 75-70 loss at Auburn.
Kentucky guard Jamal Murray said the Wildcats were prepared for the task at hand the first time around.
“We had two really good practices going into the game,” Murray said. “Shootaround was great. Everybody was on top of things and everybody read the scouting report and we were prepared for it. We just gotta do the same thing today and tomorrow.”
Technically speaking
For the first time since Kentucky’s 79-77 overtime loss at Texas A&M, freshman Isaac Humphries spoke about the technical foul he received for throwing the ball on the court in excitement after grabbing a crucial rebound in the final nine seconds.
“I was just so excited, I was so pumped up (at the time),” Humphries said. “Tyler (Ulis) came over and was so happy too. I don’t know. I honestly don’t know why I did it, but I was just so happy. It was just the first thing I thought of really.”
Humphries said it took “a good 24 hours” to get past the mistake.
“The support from the guys and the coaches was awesome because I did feel terrible and just their support made me feel better,” he said.
The performance against the Aggies earned Humphries a start in Kentucky’s 78-53 win over Alabama earlier this week. He finished with four points and four rebounds.
“It was one of those moments where I just thought a lot of my hard work had paid off for this season and I was lucky enough to have that opportunity,” he said. “(The start) just reassured me that (Calipari) has my back especially at like a time like that. It was also cool to know that he trusted in me to start a game.”
Scouting Vandy
The Commodores have won four of their past five games and completed a regular-season sweep of Florida with an 87-74 victory over the Gators earlier this week in Gainesville.
“They’re really rebounding the ball,” Calipari said. “They’re scoring the ball around the basket. (Damian) Jones is really doing well. They’re playing a little bigger at guard. They’re defending. It’s always a hard game up there. It’s a hard game.”
Jones paced Vandy with a career-high 27 points, making 12 of 13 field goals while Jeff Roberson posted a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds in the win over the Gators.
“We’re looking forward to it, looking forward to the challenge,” Murray said. “I think this team was ready to get Alex (Poythress) back and Isaac’s (Humphries) is playing well and Skal’s (Labissiere) getting better. So we’ll be fine.”
Game tracker: Kentucky at Vanderbilt, 4 p.m., Saturday. TV/Radio: CBS Sports (Channel 27), 98.1 FM WBUL.
Keith Taylor is a columnist and senior sports writer who covers University of Kentucky athletics for KyForward.com