LIVE BLOG: Kentucky vs. No. 25 Vanderbilt

Well, that was fun. How about 20 more minutes just like it?

Kentucky pushed ahead by as many as 20 points, thanks to nine made 3-pointers from the Wildcats — five from Collin Chandler alone. He leads all scorers with 15 on 5-8 overall, followed by Denzel Aberdeen with eight (3-5 FG), Otega Oweh (3-8 FG) and Andrija Jelavic (2-3 FG) with six apiece, Malachi Moreno with five (2-2 FG), Jasper Johnson with three (1-2 3PT) and Brandon Garrison with two (1-2 FG).

The Cats are shooting 54.8 percent overall and 56.3 percent from three.

Going up by 20 with 3:46 to go in the first half, Kentucky has allowed Vanderbilt to cut it to 13 just two minutes later with the Cats leading 42-29.

Don’t give the Commodores life, please. Foot back on the gas.

The Comeback Cats will not be needed on this beautiful Saturday to end the month of February — barring an absolute disaster. That’s because Kentucky leads by 20 against Vanderbilt, doubling up the Commodores 40-20 with five minutes to go in the first half.

Are we back, folks? This feels like the glory days of this program again and I love it.

Kentucky is 13-21 overall (61.9% FG), 7-11 from three (63.6% 3PT) and 1-1 at the line (100% FT) for a red-hot first 12 minutes and change here against Vanderbilt.

Collin Chandler leads all scorers with 12 on 4-5 from deep — why was he on the bench for five minutes? — followed by Otega Oweh and Andrija Jelavic with six each, Denzel Aberdeen with five, Jasper Johnson with three and Malachi Moreno with two.

Vanderbilt is shooting 42.1 percent from the field (8-19) and 25 percent from three (2-8).

That’ll do.

Otega Oweh just got a steal-and-score to put Kentucky up 15 at the midway point of the first half and Big Blue Nation is having a good time here in the Rupp Arena matinee.

Cats can’t miss and the defensive stops are coming. Things are going about as well as they could be against the No. 25 team in the country.

As Kentucky looks to make its own Final Four push over the next month, how about bringing in the girls who just did it themselves? The 2025 national runner-ups are in the house, Craig Skinner’s volleyball team honored at midcourt during the most recent TV timeout.

Can we recreate that in March, please?

CAPTAIN CLUTCH CAN’T MISS, FOLKS!

Collin Chandler is already up to nine points on 3-4 shooting from three to lead all scorers, putting Kentucky up 21-14 with 14:10 to go in the first half.

Andrija Jelavic has six quick points, too, while Otega Oweh has four and Malachi Moreno has two.

Keep it flying, Cats.

Good grief, Cats. Save some buckets for the full 40 minutes, would ya?

Kentucky is off to a 5-7 start overall and 2-4 from three to take a 13-8 lead in the first three minutes of the game, led by a pair of triples from Captain Clutch himself, Collin Chandler.

Andrija Jelavic has an and-one while Malachi Moreno and Otega Oweh have two each. AK Okereke has five and Duke Miles has an early three to make up the three baskets for the Commodores.

Good start for the good guys.

Kentucky Starters

• 00 Otega Oweh
• 1 Denzel Aberdeen
• 5 Collin Chandler
• 4 Andrija Jelavic
• 24 Malachi Moreno

Vanderbilt Starters

• 2 Duke Miles
• 3 Tyler Tanner
• 5 Tyler Nickel
• 10 AK Okereke
• 99 David McGlockton

Here’s today’s slate:

• 1:00 PM ET – Missouri at Mississippi State (SEC Network)
• 2:00 PM ET – Vanderbilt at Kentucky (ESPN)
• 3:30 PM ET – South Carolina at Georgia (SEC Network)
• 4:00 PM ET – Texas at Texas A&M (ESPN2)
• 6:00 PM ET – Alabama at Tennessee (ESPN)
• 6:00 PM ET – Oklahoma at LSU (SEC Network)
• 8:30 PM ET – Arkansas at Florida (ESPN)
• 8:30 PM ET – Ole Miss at Auburn (SEC Network)

As @AdamLuckettoutlined earlier this week, there are a lot of scenarios that could still play out. Kentucky still has a path to the double bye — or, it could end up playing on Wednesday based on how the next three games go. The next two (Vandy, Texas A&M) are huge.

For today, here’s what needs to happen for Kentucky to improve its seed:

1. UK to win – Obviously. A win would push Kentucky over Vanderbilt in the standings (for now) and negate the ‘Dores’ head-to-head tiebreaker. This is also the most winnable game left on Kentucky’s schedule, in my opinion.

2. Missouri (Mississippi State), Tennessee (Alabama), and Arkansas (Florida) to lose: Missouri has a tiebreaker over Kentucky, so cheer for Mississippi State in the first game of the day. The Tigers have games vs. Oklahoma and at Arkansas to close the season.

Kentucky owns tiebreakers over Tennessee and Arkansas, but both are ahead of the Cats in the standings. If Kentucky can end up on the same line as the Vols and/or Razorbacks in the standings, they’ll have the advantage come tiebreaker time. Both are projected to win their final two games, so cheer for Alabama and Florida today. If Tennessee loses today, there is a scenario in which Kentucky can still get the No. 4 seed.

• Tipoff: 2:00 p.m. ET
• TV: ESPN (Tom Hart, Dane Bradshaw)
• Local Radio: UK Sports Network (Tom Leach, Goose Givens)
• AM: 840 WHAS, 630 WLAP
• FM: 98.1 WBUL
• Online: iHeart Radio
• Sirius XM: 84

Here’s the schedule for another loaded day of college hoops, the second to last in the regular season:

• 1:00 PM ET – Missouri at Mississippi State (SEC Network)
• 2:00 PM ET – Vanderbilt at Kentucky (ESPN)
• 3:30 PM ET – South Carolina at Georgia (SEC Network)
• 4:00 PM ET – Texas at Texas A&M (ESPN2)
• 6:00 PM ET – Alabama at Tennessee (ESPN)
• 6:00 PM ET – Oklahoma at LSU (SEC Network)
• 8:30 PM ET – Arkansas at Florida (ESPN)
• 8:30 PM ET – Ole Miss at Auburn (SEC Network)