NASHVILLE, Tenn. _ The second Kentucky-Vanderbilt matchup resembled the first. Vandy led at halftime, then UK rode stifling defense to victory.
Kentucky's 78-64 victory Tuesday night saw Nick Richards come alive in the second half. On Vandy's first six possessions, he blocked three shots and altered two others.
That ignited Kentucky's transition offense. When Vandy did not shoot nearly as well after halftime as it did in the opening 20 minutes, the game was decided.
Kentucky took its first lead with 11:15 left. The lead expanded to 60-48 with 6:12 left.
But repeating a familiar storyline, UK did not deliver a knockout punch. Instead, with help from nine second-half UK turnovers, Vandy rallied. But after the lead was reduced to 62-57, Immanuel Quickley lived up to his new nickname _ "Killer" _ with a pair of threes.
UK improved to 19-5 overall and 9-2 in the Southeastern Conference. The latter kept UK with no worse than a share of first place.
As in Lexington two weeks earlier, UK trailed at halftime. Vandy led 36-27 despite a relatively quiet first half from its two players with double-digit scoring averages. Saben Lee had two points until 4:43 remained. And Scotty Pippen Jr. scored only three in the half. By the way, Vandy led 35-28 in Lexington before UK won 71-62.
But Vandy's 8-for-17 three-point shooting in the first half more than compensated. That was more threes than Vandy had made in seven of its previous nine games (or the time leading scorer Aaron Nesmith was lost for the season because of injury).
At the half, Kentucky had only one more basket (nine of 28 shooting) than Vandy had three-pointers (eight of 17 from beyond the arc).
Kentucky could not blame a hostile road environment for its predicament. A "Go Big Blue" chant could be heard at the opening tip. And during the second-half rally, the chant erupted eight times.
