On a team that often struggles offensively, that at times suffers long stretches when it needs someone to just put the ball in the basket, Jarred Vanderbilt can’t make a shot. Not a one. Not a one-footer. Not a two-footer. It doesn’t matter.
“I’ve never really missed that many in my life,” the Kentucky freshman said Saturday, smiling but shaking his head. “I think I’m No. 1 in the nation in shots missed inside five feet.”
And yet the 6-foot-9 forward from Houston, absent the first 17 games of this 2017-18 season thanks to an injured foot, just might be the key that finally turns over Kentucky’s engine and points these Cats in the right direction.