A senior night ceremony and engagement proposal provided enough stress for Kentucky during its home finale Tuesday night. Throw in a determined Vanderbilt team trying to muscle its way into an NCAA Tournament in the mix and there was a recipe for disaster.
It took pure toughness — the same blue-collar effort seniors Dominique Hawkins, Derek Willis and Mychal Mulder have displayed during their respective careers — for the ninth-ranked Wildcats to overcome a 19-point deficit and escape with a 73-67 victory over the Commodores.
The comeback was the biggest in John Calipari’s nine-year tenure at the school and the the largest for the program in nearly 23 years. It also gave Kentucky a share of the Southeastern Conference regular-season title for the fifth time in Calipari’s eight seasons with the Wildcats.
BOXSCORE: Kentucky 73, Vandy 67
In addition to rolling up their sleeves and digging a little deeper within, the Wildcats employed a pressing defense that forced the Commodores into complete panic mode, especially in the second half. The pressure allowed Kentucky to crawl back into the game before experiencing a breakthrough in the final eight minutes to complete a regular-season sweep of Vandy.
When times were desperate, the Wildcats (15-5, 15-2) relied on their toughness.
“This team has a lot of fight,” sophomore Isaiah Briscoe said. “Not one time in the huddle any of us ever thought that we were going to lose the game. We kept our heads high. Coach kept on encouraging us and when it came down to the end, and it was time to really win, we all came together as a team.”
For a team fighting off the emotional distress of saying goodbye to three contributing seniors, coupled with an emphasis on pressing full court proved to be a difficult task to overcome, especially in the first half.
“We weren’t desperate enough to start the game and even if we were desperate enough, part of it may have been we were going to press, but we weren’t going to be as aggressive,” Calipari said. “That could come back to me. But I keep telling them, I’m not responsible for your effort, your energy, your fight, you are.”
Although Kentucky shot just 31 percent in the first half, the team’s ability to fight back in times of adversity provided a cushion for the Wildcats to fall back on when the shots weren’t falling.
“I just feel like we weren’t aggressive enough, is what it was,” Hawkins said of the team’s first-half issues. “We were settling for a lot of shots, jump shots. Coach Cal just told us to attack the rim and listen to him when we run plays.
“There were times that we weren’t focused enough and just running our own stuff and doing things that he didn’t want us to do. When we were able to be together, we were able to make a run.”
That run didn’t reach a breaking point until Willis drained a 3-pointer with less than five minutes remaining that gave the Wildcats their first lead of the game that remained intact until the final buzzer.
“We just were trying put pressure on them,” Hawkins said. “We were trapping and scrambling all over the floor. That’s the type that you have to pressure, because when they move the ball good they execute their offense.”
Willis said fighting to get victories is just part of the team’s identity, a trait that came through and helped Kentucky avoided a meltdown after falling behind by double-digits in the first half against the Commodores.
“It’s part of our culture,” Willis said. “We have games like that. It’s just going to get us ready for tournament time. I feel like this is what it all comes down to.”
Once things started clicking on both ends of the floor, the Wildcats became more united and focused on finishing.
“Everybody was together,” Hawkins said. “When we play together, I feel like we’re a great team. Early on, we weren’t playing together as a team and turning the ball over too much, but down the stretch we didn’t have too many turnovers and people were able to execute the offensive plays.”
Calipari liked the way the Wildcats fought as a unit instead of going their separate ways when things weren’t in their favor.
“They stuck together, no one broke off,” Calipari said. “We had one play, Malik Monk on the far corner took a shot he didn’t need to take. Every other shot was what we were looking for.”
The confidence Monk showed in the second half and the team’s successful comeback was another sign of maturity for the Wildcats as the calendar flips to March, ushering in a season of hoops hysteria.
“That’s how you’ve got to play basketball in March — you’ve got to fight and stick together,” Calipari said. “You can’t fight and then everybody go do their own thing. You can’t win a basketball game.”
Keith Taylor is a senior sports writer for KyForward, where he primarily covers University of Kentucky sports. Reach him at keith.taylor@kyforward.com or @keithtaylor21 on Twitter
Gametracker: Kentucky at Texas A&M, noon, Saturday. TV/Radio: CBS, 1530 WSAI AM.