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Vanderbilt Upsets No 5 Kentucky 66-60 1/31/2004
Vanderbilt Upsets No 5 Kentucky 66-60 Matt Freije put the Commodores’ season on his back as he scored five points, a steal, and a back-breaking offensive rebound with 17 seconds left as Vanderbilt upset No. 5 Kentucky 66-60 Saturday afternoon at Memorial Gym. Freije had a game-high 20 points and 11 rebounds. The Wildcats took a 60-56 lead on Cliff Hawkins’ jumper with 3:10 remaining. The Commodores outscored the Cats 10-0 for the rest of the game. The biggest bucket of the game came when freshman Dan Cage buried a three pointer on the baseline with 2:20 to play which gave VU its first lead since early in the second half at 61-60. Cage had eight points including two three-pointers. After Vanderbilt’s Russell Lakey missed the front end of a one-and-one, Freije tapped out the rebound to fellow senior Scott Hundley. Hundley, Kentucky’s Mr. Basketball in high school, sealed the game by sinking both free throws to give the ‘Dores a 64-60 lead with only 14 seconds remaining. The story if the first half was the play of Dawid Przybyszewski. Przybyszewski scored 11 points in a Vanderbilt 21-4 run in the first half that gave VU a 23-11 advantage. Przybyszewski was on fire as he connected on all three treys he took and also got a steal and went coast-to-coast for a dunk. Przybyszewski finished the game with 13 points and four rebounds. Kentucky fought back and took a two point lead after a 16-2 run. The Wildcat run was sparked by Kelenna Azubuike who had 10 first half points. The Commodores went into halftime holding a 40-35 lead. After a sluggish second half start for the ‘Dores, Head Coach Kevin Stallings subbed all five players. The Vanderbilt bench, also nicknamed “Grizzlies”, held their own after the Cats used a 14-2 run to take a 49-42 lead with 14:57 to go. The Vanderbilt bench outscored Kentucky’s bench 32-12. “Our bench did a great job today,” said Stallings. “We got half of our points from our bench –those guys played like warriors .” When the VU starters returned, the ‘Dores found themselves behind 10 at 53-43. VU slowly chipped away at the Kentucky lead and put together a 9-0 stretch to pull within one. Kentucky was led by senior Gerald Fitch and junior Erik Daniels who each had 13. The ‘Dores hit the road to face Florida Saturday and return home Wednesday February 11 to host the Georgia Bulldogs. |
