Vandy

Kentucky football coach Joker Phillips isn’t taking Vanderbilt lightly. The Wildcats (5-5) can all but seal a bowl berth when the two teams meet Saturday at Commonwealth Stadium, although Phillips would like notch the team’s sixth win of the season and “get it out of the way quick.” However, Phillips cautioned against looking past the Commodores during his press conference Monday afternoon at Wildcat Den. “Our focus has to be on Vanderbilt and Vanderbilt only,” he said.

Kentucky coach John Calipari knows Thursday night's Southeastern Conference opener at Vanderbilt won't be an easy task. Recent history between the two rivals suggests that the contest will be a toss-up, a regular occurrence in the rivalry since Calipari has been at the helm. During Calipari's four-year tenure at Kentucky, the Wildcats have compiled an impressive 40-8 record during the regular season against conference foes, including a 5-1 mark against the Commodores. Five of those games were decided by 10 points or less, including two by a deuce.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - It’s time to face the obvious. Kentucky is a good team, but far from a great team - and that is not going to change before the season ends no matter how hard coach John Calipari pushes his team, pleads for more toughness or searches for ways to win close games on the road. Kentucky made that clear again here Saturday with its 81-77 loss to No. 23 Vanderbilt. The Cats did a lot right (34 points in the paint, 14-for-18 at the foul line, only eight turnovers, 31-31 standoff on the boards)

LEXINGTON - Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings says it is no fluke that his team has shot well from 3-point range this season. "We have a lot of very good shooters on our team," said Stallings. "We like to recruit guys who can shoot and do believe there are things you can do to help guys become better shooters. "We work very hard at it. Our kids become sold on that. We do a lot of teaching when it comes to that, but we also recruit guys who can really shoot. They could shoot before they got here.

LEXINGTON - For Kentucky to beat Vanderbilt Saturday, the Wildcats will have to find a way to contain receiver Earl Bennett. Bennett, a sophomore, had 13 catches for 157 yards in last week's loss to Florida. That was his sixth career game with at least 10 catches and 100 receiving yards. He leads the Southeastern Conference with 67 receptions for 910 yards and five scores. "I think that he is an NFL wide receiver," Florida coach Urban Meyer said of Bennett, who had five catches for 89 yards and a touchdown in the fourth quarter against the Gators.

LEXINGTON - Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings isn't sure if having three straight wins over Kentucky will have any impact on his team in Sunday's game. "I don't really know. We have great respect for Kentucky's program," said Stallings. "All of our games recently have seemed to be very close. There's no reason to believe this one will be different. I do not know if it gives us confidence, or if our guys just look at it as the next game on the schedule. I never know what they are thinking, but I hope it gives us confidence.

LEXINGTON - Georgia coach Mark Fox has a unique way to describe just how good a shooter Vanderbilt junior John Jenkins , the Southeastern Conference 's top scorer at 20.1 points per game, is. “He is so good. He needs the smallest crack in the clouds to make the sun shine. He needs a very small window to get his shot off. He does not miss. He's not the only gun on the team, either. But he is as good a shooter as I have seen,” said Fox. “With him, you pray he drives it because he is so lethal shooting.

LEXINGTON - It was a rough night for Kentucky. An apparent game-changing moment for the Wildcats ended up being a game-saver for Vanderbilt in the Commodores' 31-24 win over Kentucky Saturday night at Commonwealth Stadium. In addition to a critical roughing the passer call that led to the game-winning score, Kentucky was flagged three times for roughing the kicker, which led to a pair of touchdowns by the Commodores in the first half. Overall, Kentucky was flagged five times for a loss of 57 yards.

LEXINGTON - Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings doesn't want his team "to live and die" with 3-point shots even though the Commodores are averaging almost 25 3-pointers per game. Instead, he wants the Commodores to execute their offense like they did in Wednesday's 67-62 win over Tennessee when they shot 54.2 percent from the field and were 6-for-14 from long range. However, Stallings also knows that his team will have trouble executing its offense Saturday when it hosts No. 6 Kentucky.

Kentucky coach John Calipari knows Thursday night's Southeastern Conference opener at Vanderbilt won't be an easy task. Recent history between the two rivals suggests that the contest will be a toss-up, a regular occurrence in the rivalry since Calipari has been at the helm. During Calipari's four-year tenure at Kentucky, the Wildcats have compiled an impressive 40-8 record during the regular season against conference foes, including a 5-1 mark against the Commodores. Five of those games were decided by 10 points or less, including two by a deuce.

Don't worry about Kentucky coach John Calipari bringing up last season's Southeastern Conference Tournament title game loss to Vanderbilt to motivate his team for Thursday's SEC opener at Vanderbilt.  “They guys I'm coaching may not even know that game happened to be honest with you,” Calipari said Monday on the SEC coaches teleconference. Kentucky (9-4) lost its top seven players off last year's national title game and the Commodores (6-6) also have basically a new roster going into the conference opener.

Dick Vitale says the NCAA Tournament selection committee did Kentucky “no favor” by setting the Wildcats up to possibly have to face defending national champion Connecticut in the second round. Kentucky will play Western Kentucky on Thursday, and Connecticut will face Iowa State. If both win, they would play Saturday in Louisville in the South Region third round in a rematch of last year's Final Four game won by the Huskies. “When I look at that second game if they play Connecticut, let me tell you that is going to be a war,” the ESPN college basketball analyst said Tuesday.

LEXINGTON - Georgia coach Mark Fox has a unique way to describe just how good a shooter Vanderbilt junior John Jenkins , the Southeastern Conference 's top scorer at 20.1 points per game, is. “He is so good. He needs the smallest crack in the clouds to make the sun shine. He needs a very small window to get his shot off. He does not miss. He's not the only gun on the team, either. But he is as good a shooter as I have seen,” said Fox. “With him, you pray he drives it because he is so lethal shooting.

NASHVILLE - Forget ESPN GameDay that had former Notre Dame coach Digger Phelps warning Kentucky fans to be nice and not ruin Vanderbilt's moment in the spotlight. Forget that Vanderbilt was the only team left with a realistic chance to challenge Kentucky for the Southeastern Conference championship. Forget that Kentucky had been on such a tear - winning its last four games by 103 points - that a letdown surely had to be coming. None of that mattered to coach John Calipari's team at Vanderbilt on Saturday night when the Wildcats did something they have not had to do yet this year - come from behind late on the road against a good, experienced team to win.  “Every game we play is like walking into this.

Kentucky coach John Calipari likes a challenge. Based on past history, Calipari and the Wildcats will get one tonight against Vanderbilt in Nashville. Calipari compared his team's ESPN¿“GameDay” contest against the Commodores to a “great test.” The two Southeastern Conference foes split two games last year, with Vanderbilt claiming an 81-77 triumph in Music City. Calipari expects the same type of finish this time around in front of a national stage. “Every one of these teams give us something different,” Calipari said Friday.

LEXINGTON - Terrence Jones is learning what it takes to be a leader. The Kentucky freshman took a big step up the maturity ladder Tuesday night when he hit three of four free throws in the final minute and helped lead the Wildcats to a 68-66 triumph over Vanderbilt in the team’s home finale. With the game on the line, Jones wanted to make a statement. “Players that try to take over the game usually always try to get to the line and get to the free-throw line at the end of the game,” Jones said afterward.

LEXINGTON - Darius Miller was coming off the best four-game stretch of his Kentucky career, including scoring a career-high 24 points in a win over Florida Saturday. However, in the first half Tuesday night here against Vanderbilt, he was 1-for-4 from the field, did not have a rebound or assist, and had been beaten on defense by Vanderbilt’s Jeffery Taylor several times. That prompted Kentucky coach John Calipari to take Miller out of the game several times and verbally chastise him many more times when he was on the court.

LEXINGTON - With only 8.2 seconds left in the game and Kentucky leading Vanderbilt 66-65, UK freshman Brandon Knight went to the foul line. His parents, Tonya and Efrem Knight, were sitting in the front row in the end zone. While other fans were standing and anxiously waiting to see if Knight could make the shots, they remained seated and showed no emotion. “That’s because we both knew he would make the shots — and he did. He played great,” said Tonya Knight after those free throws helped UK hold on for a 68-66 victory . “I did expect to make them,” said Brandon Knight, who had 17 points on 5-for-14 shooting from the field, six rebounds and three assists in 36 minutes.

Kentucky coach John Calipari says despite UK’s five road losses in close games, it’s not time to panic and write off the season. “This team is 14th in the RPI and 10th in strength of schedule. We lost five games, and we could have won them all. We are going on the road, and are not quite finishing games and making some errors. That’s what a young team does,” he said Monday. “At the end of the day, I’m worried about where this team finishes, not where we are right now. “Other than the top five or six, seven teams (in the country)