LEXINGTON, Ky. — What was supposed to be a night of celebration in Rupp Arena turned into a nightmare scenario for the Kentucky Wildcats.
Vanderbilt defeated UK, 68-66, in the Wildcats’ final home game of the 2022-23 season.
Jordan Wright hit a turnaround jumper with 2.6 seconds left to break a 66-all tie and set the final score in favor of the Commodores. Antonio Reeves missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer that would have won it for UK.
Oscar Tshiebwe tallied 21 points and 20 rebounds for Kentucky and briefly put the Wildcats ahead 66-64 on a basket with 1:10 left, their only lead of the second half.
More important than the game result: the status of UK’s roster moving forward.
Freshman point guard Cason Wallace, who has been a major reason for the Wildcats’ turnaround in recent weeks, was injured early in the second half. Wallace went to the Rupp Arena court favoring his left leg, made his way to the Kentucky bench once the game was stopped, and then exited the floor area in the direction of the Wildcats’ locker room.
UK announced with 8:00 left that he would not return to Wednesday’s game.
The Wildcats were already without All-SEC point guard Sahvir Wheeler, who ceded his starting spot to Wallace while out with a shoulder injury earlier this season and missed his seventh consecutive game with an ankle injury Wednesday.
Coach John Calipari announced Wednesday afternoon that Wheeler had a “minor procedure” unrelated to his ankle injury and would miss Senior Night festivities before the game. Calipari said later in the day that Wheeler was expected to miss 2-3 weeks, a timeline that would extend into the NCAA Tournament.
Now, Wallace’s status is also uncertain. He did not return to the bench area Wednesday night.
Vanderbilt led 36-32 when Wallace went down, and the Commodores extended that lead to 46-35 over the next three minutes.
UK answered that with a 9-0 run to narrow Vandy’s advantage to just two points, and the game remained relatively close from that point on. Kentucky got within one point of the ‘Dores three times and tied the game once before finally taking the lead on Tshiebwe’s late bucket, but that advantage was brief.
Any realistic chance of a Vanderbilt victory seemingly went out the window with 15:51 left in the first half, when Commodores star Liam Robbins fell to the court and stayed there, clutching at his right leg.
Robbins was sidelined with a right foot/ankle injury in January. In the seven games since he made a full return to the court, the 7-footer was averaging 22.0 points, 10.1 rebounds and 4.6 blocked shots per game, while making 14 of 23 3-pointers (60.9%).
Vanderbilt had won six of seven games in that span. The ’Dores were 3-6 in SEC play before that.
But even with Robbins out (and Wallace still in), Vanderbilt managed to take a 34-30 lead into halftime, thanks to Kentucky’s shooting woes throughout the first half. The Cats were 11-for-34 from the field and 1-for-11 from three-point range in the first 20 minutes of the game. They had just four assists on those 11 made baskets in the first half.
Kentucky’s poor shooting carried over after halftime. The Cats finished 19 for 59 from the field and 3 for 19 from 3-point range.
UK’s Brennan Canada, CJ Fredrick, Reeves, Jacob Toppin and Tshiebwe went through the pregame Senior Night ceremony, as planned, though each of those players could still return to Kentucky for another year.
Those decisions will be made after the season.
