Vanderbilt upsets mistake-prone No. 9 Kentucky

Field Level Media|published: Sat 25th January, 17:17 2025

Jan 25, 2025; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Vanderbilt Commodores guard Jason Edwards (1) splits Kentucky Wildcats guard Jaxson Robinson (2) and center Amari Williams (22) during the first half at Memorial Gymnasium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images

Jason Edwards scored 18 points for Vanderbilt, which forced No. 9 Kentucky into 17 turnovers to spur a 74-69 upset on Saturday in Nashville, Tenn.

Tyler Nickel's corner 3-pointer with 1:50 to play gave Vanderbilt a 71-69 lead. Devin McGlockton's steal 20 seconds later returned possession to the Commodores. His offensive rebound and putback pushed the Vanderbilt lead to 73-69.

Edwards split a pair of free-throw attempts for the final margin.

The Wildcats struggled with turnovers, including giving the ball away on consecutive possessions with less than two minutes to play. Kentucky's turnovers which led to 14 Vanderbilt points. The Commodores only had five turnovers, which resulted in seven points for the Wildcats.

McGlockton scored 14 points, Nickel added 11 and Jaylen Carey came off the bench to chip in 10 points for Vanderbilt (16-4, 4-3 Southeastern Conference). The Commodores upset a Top 10 team for the second straight Saturday on their home court. Vanderbilt knocked off Tennessee 76-75 last week.

Otega Oweh scored a game-high 21 points and pulled down 12 rebounds for the Wildcats. Ansley Almonor added 12 points and Jaxson Robinson chipped in 11 points for Kentucky (14-5, 3-3).

The Wildcats played without starting forward Andrew Carr, who missed the game with a back injury.

Kentucky answered its lowest scoring half of the season (27 points) with an 11-0 run to start the second half. Almonor drilled a wide-open corner trey to cut the Vanderbilt lead to 41-35. Oweh hit a scoop layup as he was fouled and the Wildcats closed to within 41-38.

The Commodores' AJ Hoggard ended the run when he rattled in a 3-pointer for a 44-38 advantage. But the Wildcats went on a 20-7 run that featured Robinson's 3-pointer that tied the game at 51 with 12:48 left. Williams' layup gave the Wildcats a 58-51 lead with 8:39 to play.

Vanderbilt fought back with a run punctuated by Tyler Tanner's fast-break layup to take a 66-63 lead with 4:05 to play.

An offensive rebound led to a deep 3-pointer from MJ Collins Jr. as Vanderbilt took a 37-25 lead at the 2:02 mark of the first half. Another KU turnover led to a fast break where Tanner hit Collins with an alley-oop pass as Vanderbilt took a 41-27 halftime lead as the Commodores closed the first half on a 20-4 run.

--Field Level Media