On Wednesday night, Kentucky hosted Vanderbilt for their final home game of the season. It was Senior Night and six Kentucky seniors were honored in the pregame ceremony. Unfortunately, Kentucky wasn’t able to capitalize on the hype surrounding the evening as the Wildcats fall 68-66 to Vanderbilt.

Kentucky came into the game on a four game winning streak, including a blowout win over Auburn just four days prior.

The Wildcats were playing their best basketball of the season and getting hot at the right time. But Wednesday night’s loss served as a road block that few saw coming.

Thankfully, Kentucky is no longer at risk for missing the NCAA tournament. However, following Wednesday’s loss, Kentucky’s seeding for the big dance is up in the air.

Additionally, Kentucky’s seeding for the SEC tournament is in limbo. If they would’ve been able to avoid the loss to Vandy, they would’ve locked themselves into the 3 seed and a double-bye for the conference tournament. The 3-seed is still a possibility, but multiple things need to occur for that to happen.

Let’s look at what unfolded to lead to Kentucky’s unfortunate Senior Night loss.

Offensive Woes

After the hot shooting that occurred on Saturday vs Auburn, the Cats couldn’t seem to find the bottom of the net on many occasions Wednesday night. Kentucky only shot 32.2% from the field going 19-59. They only saw three three-pointers go through on 19 attempts. Free throw shooting was average as they went 25-35 from the stripe.

Of Kentucky’s 59 shot attempts, 30 of them came from the mid-range. In the postgame press conference, KY Insider asked coach Cal if that was the shot he was wanting his team to take.

“We took 19 threes. And we wanted the mid-range shots, yes” Cal responded. “Because that’s how they play and it’s one of the things we do so well. We missed a bunch of them today. Just missed a bunch. That’s a shot we make, as a matter of fact, we play to get those, too.”

Meanwhile, Vanderbilt shot 40.3% from the field, 33.3% from three, and 76.9% from the free throw line.

Vandy’s guards Jordan Wright and Tyrin Lawrence filled up the stat sheet, combining for 44 points. Collectively, they shot 17-26 from the field and 6-7 from three. Wright went 4-4 on three point attempts. Wright also hit the go-ahead fade-away in the final moments of the game.

Oscar Tshiebwe was Kentucky’s bright spot in the disappointing loss. The ever-reliable forward went for 21 points and 20 rebounds for his 17th double-double of the year.

As bitter as the loss was, it was impressive that Kentucky only lost by two after such a poor night of shooting.

Injuries

Just four minutes into the game, Vanderbilt forward, Liam Robbins went down with a lower leg injury and had to be helped off the court. Robbins would not return to the game. In a post game interview, Vanderbilt head coach Jerry Stackhouse said that Robbins would “probably” miss the rest of the season.

Robbins also missed the previous matchup vs Kentucky in Nashville on January 24th. This was during a stretch of four games in which he had to miss with an ankle injury. Robbins was averaging 15.5 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 3.2 blocks per game prior to his injury Wednesday night.

Just shy of two minutes into the second half, Kentucky starting point guard Cason Wallace went down, also with a lower leg injury. Wallace was able to limp off the floor without assistance and made his way to the locker room to be further examined. Unfortunately, Wallace would be ruled out for the remainder of the game.

In the post game press conference, Coach Cal gave an update on Wallace’s status.

“Cason got X-ray’d, he’s fine. Didn’t swell. I’m hoping he’s OK for Saturday, but we’ll see,” Cal said.

Sahvir Wheeler Misses Senior Night

Six Kentucky seniors were honored Wednesday night. One senior, however, was absent from the festivities. Point guard Sahvir Wheeler had to undergo a medical procedure that caused him to have to miss his senior night recognition. Other seniors recognized include Oscar Tshiebwe, Jacob Toppin, CJ Fredrick, Antonio Reeves, and Brennan Canada.

John Calipari’s wife, Ellen, came out in a #2 jersey in recognition for Sahvir Wheeler due to his absence. Wheeler has missed several weeks at this point due to a lingering ankle injury. However, the procedure that he had was related to a tail-bone injury, per reports.

In coach Cal’s announcement of Wheeler’s absence, he stated that “he will be out for a bit.” So it is unclear as to when or if he will return to play this season.