Feeling Patterson’s Pain: Without sophomore, Vandy dominates inside the paint

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Juniors Jodie Meeks and Ramon Harris look on as Vanderbilt’s Jeffrey Taylor and Charles Hinkle celebrate its 77-64 victory over the Cats on Tuesday night. Photo by Kristin Sherrard | Staff

NASHVILLE—Vanderbilt’s Jermaine Beal toed the free throw line with 1:25 left in UK’s game against the Commodores on Tuesday.

The ball rolled around the rim for two or three seconds, almost as if it still needed to decide its own fate. All 14,366 sets of lungs in Memorial Gym froze until the ball eventually found the bottom of the net.
The crowd went wild. It was that kind of night for the Cats.

The Commodores capitalized on 29 UK fouls—including a technical on UK head coach Billy Gillispie— hitting 32-of-40 free throws. Vanderbilt, which hit 14 more foul shots than the Cats (18-8, 7-4 Southeastern Conference), pulled away late and won 77-64.

“Sure, they called a couple of fouls that we won’t always agree with, but that’s just officials doing their job,” junior Perry Stevenson said. “I think they did a pretty good job. They saw fouls and they were fouls.”

Sophomore Patrick Patterson sat out his second straight game with a sprained right ankle, and Meeks acknowledged that Patterson’s presence was missed on the boards. Vanderbilt (16-9, 5-6 SEC) out-rebounded the Cats, 37-26. The Cats grabbed just 15 defensive rebounds, which Gillispie called “a really good game for a really good single player.”

Vanderbilt also led in points in the paint (26-24) and second-chance points (18-8), which Meeks attributed in part to Patterson’s injury.

Junior Kevin Galloway watches as the ball goes out of bounds during UK’s 77-64 loss to Vanderbilt.Photo by Kristin Sherrard | Staff

“Patrick is definitely a big part of our team,” said Meeks, who led all scorers with 26 points. “When he’s not out there, it’s hard for us. He’ll come back as soon as possible, and hopefully we’ll turn things around.”

In Patterson’s absence, Vandy big man A.J. Ogilvy made up for his own lost time. Ogilvy didn’t play the first time these two teams met this season, a Jan. 10 UK win. On Tuesday, Ogilvy finished with 15 points and eight rebounds.

The Cats’ bad night extended beyond the glass. After a 30-all stalemate at halftime, UK shot just 9-of-26 in the second half. Vanderbilt opened the half on a 9-0 run and never looked back.

“After halftime, they scored a quick basket and took the ball right back away from us,” Gillispie said. “They just kind of took our cookies. That can’t happen at this point in the season, but it did.”

Behind early in the second half, the Cats didn’t help themselves any by committing 16 second-half fouls. Vanderbilt hit 17-of-22 second-half free throws, including a perfect 6-of-6 from Beal.

Beal’s most dramatic, though, was the roller with 1:25 left. Gillispie said it was just one of those nights.

“Sometimes it goes in, sometimes it doesn’t.”