By Keith Taylor
Kentucky Today
TyTy Washington played like a veteran in his postseason debut Friday night.
Washington scored 25 points — three points shy of his career high — to lead No. 7 Kentucky to a 77-71 win over Vanderbilt in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference Tournament Friday night.
The third-seeded Wildcats (26-6) will take on No. 2 seed Tennessee in the tournament semifinals at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. The Volunteers (24-7), the No. 2 seed in the tourney, defeated Mississippi State 72-59 in their tourney opener Friday.
Texas A&M, which stunned top-seeded Auburn, plays Arkansas, a winner over LSU, in the first semifinal at 1 p.m.
The Commodores (17-16), playing their third straight game in the five-day event, knocked down 11 3-pointers, many from beyond the 3-point line, to keep things close before Kentucky pulled away down the stretch.
Kentucky coach John Calipari wasn’t surprised by Vanderbilt’s performance, considering the two regular-season games against Vandy were decided by 10 points or less.
“They never stopped,” said Calipari, whose squad has won 13 straight over the Commodores. “They played until the horn and that’s amazing. We thought we could get into their legs at some point in the second half and it didn’t happen. … I knew what this would be. I knew it would be hard.”
The players heeded Calipari’s message and accepted the challenge.
“We kind of wanted this,” Kentucky guard Sahvir Wheeler said. “We welcomed it. We always welcome a challenge to figure out how we can win at the end of the game when it gets tough because it’s not always going to be 20-point wins or we’re down and coming back. It’s going to be sometimes back and forth, and we have to battle and figure out what we do best at the end of the game in order to finish and close out games.”
In the second half, Vandy gave the Wildcats a scare when it scored 13 unanswered points — a spree that featured three consecutive 3-pointers, including two by Jaret Wright — for a 46-39 lead with 16 minutes remaining.
However, Washington and the Wildcats regrouped. Washington tallied five points in a brief 8-0 spurt and scored 12 of Kentucky’s final 16 points to send the Wildcats into the semifinals for the 11th time in the past 13 years. Washington scored 17 points in the second half.
Calipari praised Washington’s outing and said the freshman guard displayed better toughness in the second half by “playing through bumps” and overcoming Vanderbilt’s gritty defense.
“I’m playing with an older group of guys, so I know they all believe in me,” Washington said. “The coaching staff believes in me … just playing with guys that are older than me, we’re a pretty smart team, so it’s just like we have depth. When I’m hurt, I’m not going just to sit there and try to make it about me. I know my teammates have my back.”
Although Washington produced his best outing since scoring 28 points in Kentucky’s 107-79 win over Tennessee on Jan. 17 in Lexington. He got some help from his teammates on Friday. Oscar Tshiebwe followed Washington with 12 points and 14 rebounds and Jacob Toppin and Davion Mintz contributed with 10 points each off the bench.
“Davion and Jacob were the two that were the difference-makers, just their energy,” Calipari said. “It’s hard to explain to guys all the time that it’s your passion, your energy, your fight … In most cases, it’s going to be the team that wants it the most, that plays with the most energy, that plays with the spirit about them. How about some of the blocks that Jacob had? It was ridiculous.”
Gametracker: Kentucky vs. Tennessee, 3:30 p.m., Saturday. TV/Radio: ESPN, UK Radio Network.
Keith Taylor is the sports editor for Kentucky Today. Reach him at Keith.taylor@kentuckytodaycom and via Twitter at keithtaylor21.