No. 9 Kentucky men’s basketball (14-5, 3-3) was defeated by the Vanderbilt Commodores (16-4, 4-3) 74-69 on Saturday afternoon inside of Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville, Tenn. 

With the defeat, Kentucky has now suffered back-to-back losses for the first time this season and, along with that, the Cats dropped their first game against Vandy in Memorial Gymnasium since 2015.

Kentucky’s starting lineup suffered a big shakeup as forward Andrew Carr, who is averaging 10.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game, was ruled out with a nagging back injury that arose prior to the Mississippi State game on Jan. 11.  

With the absence of Carr, Kentucky’s lineup consisted of Otega Oweh, Lamont Butler, Jaxson Robinson, Ansley Almonor and Amari Williams. 

Vanderbilt’s Chris Manon was unsuccessful on the Commodores’ first offensive attempt, missing a 3-pointer which was then followed up by a jam from Williams on Kentucky’s first trip down, giving the Cats their first lead and bucket. 

A miss on the first field goal attempt of the game didn’t properly foreshadow the start that was brewing as, from there, both teams combined for 27 points through a little more than five minutes into the contest.

Mark Pope sacrificed an early timeout as the Commodores built an early 15-12 lead courtesy of junior guard Jason Edwards, who came out firing with 10 points on 4-4 shooting from the field. 

Edwards went on to finish with 18 points and four assists. 

With 12:37 to go in the first half, Kentucky, due to the shortage of Carr, subbed in freshmen Collin Chandler and Trent Noah, who each averaged less than nine minutes per game. Chandler touched the court for the first time since the Georgia game while Noah was entering for the first time since Dec. 31 when UK hosted Brown. 

With 7:49 to go, Kentucky held a 22-21 lead and, at the time, Robinson led all UK scorers with six points on two made 3-pointers. He went on to finish the contest with 11 points and three boards.

With the end of the first half inching closer, Vanderbilt was able to spark a 6-0 run in just over a minute, building a 34-25 lead and forcing Pope to surrender another timeout. 

That was the beginning of a grueling end to the first half for UK as it continued to let Vanderbilt dominate, allowing it to go on a 13-2 run to close out the half. 

The Cats went into halftime suffering from a 14-point deficit, trailing 41-27.

At the start of the second half, Kentucky came out with some much-needed urgency, going on an 8-0 run and forcing an early Vanderbilt timeout.

On the first play out of the timeout, Manon missed another 3-pointer, which was then turned into a quick three points by Oweh, who finished a layup and got the and-one call at the other end. 

Oweh displayed a strong second half, scoring 17 points and finishing the game with an overall point total of 21. 

Vanderbilt was able to slightly suppress UK’s rise in play, punching back with a few much needed buckets of its own. 

At the first media timeout of the second half, UK was able to shrink the deficit to just five points, now trailing 49-44. 

At the 12:47 mark, Robinson knotted the game up at 51 after he nailed his third triple of the day and, after that, Butler placed in a layup to give UK its first lead since around the mid-way point of the first half. 

Butler closed out the road trip with just six points.

With 1:36 remaining, the Commodores’ Tyler Nickel drained a corner 3-pointer, giving Vanderbilt a 71-69 advantage and forcing a Kentucky timeout. 

On UK’s first go-around out of the timeout, Butler turned the ball over, which then spiraled into Vanderbilt calling a timeout of its own. 

Vanderbilt’s Devin McGlockton was able to secure a bucket on the first possession out of its timeout, which was then followed up by another UK turnover, this time from Oweh. 

Vanderbilt did its job in terms of free-throws, pushing the game further out of reach for Kentucky and ultimately laying its chances to rest.

UK will return to action, once again in the state of Tennessee, when it travels to Knoxville to face off against the Volunteers on Tuesday, Jan. 28. Tipoff against Tennessee is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET and will air live on ESPN.