It was only two weeks ago that the mighty Cats were down in Nashville, taking a good Vanderbilt team to school—in the first half.  If you recall, the Commodores went into the half trailing UK by 13 points, and rallied in the second half, winning the points battle, 40-33.

Unfortunately for Vandy, it wouldn’t be enough, as the Cats scored the final eight points of the game and won, 69-63.

Here we are, a couple of weeks later, and the Cats are only three tough games away from completing a perfect SEC regular season run.  It hasn’t been accomplished since 2003 when the Cats did it.

It’s hard to argue that the Cats WON’T do it—they’ve got the best defense in the land, allowing opponents’ field goal percentage of 36.3% and also have one of the best offenses to complement the strong defense.  Just ask Mississippi State how quickly both sides of the ball for Kentucky can turn around on ya.

Meanwhile, the Commodores are looking to really solidify themselves as a contender this year, as they’ve fallen short of expectations.  They were ranked top-10 when the season began, but eight losses later, they’re not ranked at all.  Still, this team has talent and they can explode at any point—especially in SEC play.  Over the past four seasons, Vandy has won at every single SEC venue, with the exception, of course, of Rupp Arena.

John Jenkins, the leading scorer of the Commodores (20.1 points per game), is going to have to do much better this time around to give the team a chance—back on February 11, he only had 15 points on 5-14 shooting and two boards.  Talk about falling short.

For the Commodores, though, their biggest obstacle is going to be the mighty freshman, Anthony Davis.  His greatness is not questioned by anyone, and he’s sure to be a finalist for the national player of the year and an NBA first round selection.  It almost seems unfair that he’s paired with a big guy like Terrence Jones—who, by the way, came into a local Applebee’s I work at last night, so that was a bit of a relief for the night.

Anyway, more to the point, if Davis isn’t on, there’s backup.  Jones is a strong guy who knows how to tussle for the boards and can certainly penetrate Vandy’s defense.  Honestly, I just don’t believe they can stop UK’s big men.

Tip off is in about an hour folks, tune in and catch the year’s second beatdown of Vanderbilt!

Go Cats!