With four minutes remaining in the first half, all the way up until the final minute of regulation, Kentucky looked like they would be walking home with their most disappointing loss of the season, and one of the worst of the Calipari era.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was fighting tooth and nail on every possession, and Nick Richards impressed early in the first half. Beyond that, no one could get much of anything going against an inferior opponent in Vanderbilt.
“One step forward, two steps back,” they would’ve said. The national media would’ve had a field day. The Cats’ comeback victory in Morgantown last week would’ve been deemed fools gold.