Calipari & Wildcats recap win over Vanderbilt

After rising up the charts this week to No. 7 in the AP Poll, the Kentucky Wildcats finally found perfect harmony on Tuesday night in a 87-52 win over Vanderbilt in Music City.

PJ Washington, who had 18 points and 10 rebounds in the first half, was literally a one-man band over the opening 20 minutes as he single-handedly outscored Vanderbilt to give the Cats a 45-15 halftime lead. Washington finished with a game-high 26 points and 12 boards. Tyler Herro and Nick Richards each had 12 points and Keldon Johnson finished with 11.

The Wildcats cruised to the win on 58.8 percent shooting from three-point range (10-of-17) and finished at 55.6 percent from the field (30-of-54). Kentucky only trailed twice in the game (3-2 and 5-4 during the opening minutes) and outscored the Commodores 32-5 to end the half.

Built in 1952, Memorial Gym is one of the nation’s oldest college basketball venues and features a unique setup with player benches situated on the baseline. With a winning percentage of 78 percent on its home floor, Vanderbilt is considered one of the toughest places to play in the SEC. The Commodores recently took No. 1 ranked Tennessee to overtime on January 23rd as the Volunteers held on with a 88-83 victory. But there would be no “Memorial Miracle” on Tuesday night as the Cats finished the month of January with a 7-1 mark. UK Coach John Calipari is now 17-4 against Vanderbilt and the Cats now improve to 58-29 overall in Nashville.

Kentucky (17-3, 6-1) returns to action at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday at Florida. Vanderbilt falls to 9-11 (0-7).

After the game, Coach Calipari and select players meet with the media to discuss its sixth straight SEC win. Here is a video recap of all postgame comments as provided by UK Athletics.