The Wildcats inbounded the ball to Jeff Sheppard, who threw a cross-court pass to Mohammed racing down the right side. Mohammed caught the ball and, realizing that time was about to expire, banked the ball high off the glass from the lane to steal the victory.
"The play was set up to have Wayne penetrate and then pass off," said Kentucky coach Tubby Smith. "They took Wayne away from us, but Jeff stepped up, passed off to Nazr. Nazr had the presence of mind to look up at the clock, he took a couple of dribbles, put the shot up, and I thought he got the shot up before the red light went on."
"I thought the clock started on about the second dribble, and the ball was still in his hands when the light went on," said Vanderbilt coach Jan van Breda Kolff, obviously upset with the outcome. "For our part, nobody stepped up and made a decision on that last play, and it hurt us."
Sheppard scored 20 points and Scott Padgett added 12 and seven rebounds for Kentucky (19-2, 8-0 SEC), which has defeated Vanderbilt 11 consecutive times and leads the all-time series, 116-35.
Maddux scored 19 points and Billy DiSpaltro added 17 for the Commodores (14-6, 3-4), who lost their second straight after three consecutive victories.
Kentucky led, 27-25, at halftime and the teams battled back and forth throughout the second half until the Wildcats took a 59-56 lead on Padgett's tip-in with 1:43 to play. Heshimu Evans had a chance to give the Wildcats control, but missed two from the line, and Vanderbilt came within one as Atiba Prater hit on both ends of a one-and-one. Two timeouts followed before Turner went to the line and provided the three-point advantage that set up the frantic final moments.
Mohammed had eight points for Kentucky, which shot 43 percent (23-of-53) from the field, including 6-of-18 3-pointers, but was outrebounded, 37-32. The rebounding disadvantage marked the first time Kentucky has been outrebounded this season.
(7) Kentucky 63, VANDERBILT 61
KENTUCKY (63)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Padgett 29 4-7 3-3 3-7 0 3 12
Edwards 29 2-5 1-2 1-2 3 1 5
Mohammed 16 4-5 0-0 1-2 0 3 8
Turner 34 0-5 2-2 1-3 4 3 2
Sheppard 37 7-18 2-4 1-4 2 1 20
Smith 6 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Evans 23 1-5 3-7 1-6 1 2 5
Mills 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Magloire 23 5-7 1-1 1-6 0 3 11
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 23-53 12-19 9-30 10 16 63
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.434, FT-.632. 3-Point Goals:
5-16, .313 (Padgett 1-2, Turner 0-1, Sheppard
4-12, Smith 0-1). Team rebounds: 2. Blocked
shots: 3 (Mohammed 2, Magloire). Turnovers: 12
(Padgett 4, Magloire 2, Turner 2, Edwards, Evans,
Smith). Steals: 7 (Padgett 2, Sheppard 2, Turner
2, Evans).
VANDERBILT (61)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Di Spaltro 36 4-9 9-10 1-4 3 1 17
Ford 17 1-2 0-0 1-4 2 1 3
Bates 29 2-9 1-2 2-9 0 4 5
Prater 37 2-7 2-2 0-0 2 0 7
Maddux 39 8-18 0-0 2-6 1 2 19
Strong 5 0-0 0-0 2-2 2 1 0
Langhi 22 3-9 0-0 2-2 1 3 7
Lapointe 15 1-2 1-2 1-4 1 4 3
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 21-56 13-16 11-31 12 16 61
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.375, FT-.813. 3-Point Goals:
6-18, .333 (Ford 1-2, Prater 1-4, Maddux 3-8,
Langhi 1-4). Team rebounds: 6. Blocked shots:
None. Turnovers: 11 (Di Spaltro 3, Prater 3, Ford
2, Bates, Langhi, Strong). Steals: 8 (Maddux 3,
Prater 3, Di Spaltro, Langhi).
__________________________________
Kentucky 27 36 - 63
Vanderbilt 25 36 - 61
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None. A: 15,311. Officials:
Andre Pattillo, Gerald Boudreaux, Gene Monje.