LEXINGTON, Ky. — Shots finally started falling again for Jordan Wright, whose boldest attempt came with the game on the line.
Wright hit a go-ahead fall-away jumper in the lane with 2.6 seconds remaining to finish with 23 points, and Vanderbilt topped No. 23 Kentucky 68-66 in Southeastern Conference men’s basketball Wednesday night for its first win at Rupp Arena since January 2007.
Jubilation followed for Vanderbilt and the senior reserve guard, who was eager to break out after a scoreless outing against Florida and just 15 points the previous three games. Some encouragement from coach Jerry Stackhouse helped.
“He said that (after) the last game, I could pick it up and that’s what I did tonight,” said Wright, who finished with a career high in points. “I came out, stayed focused, kept doing my work and kept my routine. And it showed tonight.”
The surging Commodores (17-13, 10-7) earned their seventh win in eight games and are 7-3 since losing to Kentucky 69-53 on Jan. 24 in Nashville. Their run has included a home upset of No. 6 Tennessee and a sweep of Florida, providing confidence to win a tense game in one of the sport’s loudest environments while snapping a 14-game series drought.
Vanderbilt trailed 26-21 late in the first half before leading 34-30 at halftime and 46-35 early in the second half before withstanding Kentucky’s rally for a 66-64 advantage with 1:10 left on Oscar Tshiebwe’s layup.
Wright answered with a drive from the right wing to tie the game with 42 seconds left, and Tyrin Lawrence grabbed the rebound on Antonio Reeves’ missed jumper with 20 seconds left. Vanderbilt let the clock run and Wright took a pass from near midcourt and dribbled to just inside the foul line, spun and fell back with the winning shot.
“It feels great, and it was a game that we knew we had to win to keep our hopes alive for March Madness,” Wright said. “Every game is a huge game for us, but this is one that we needed.”
Antonio Reeves’ 3-point attempt missed the rim altogether as time expired. Kentucky had won its previous four and returned to the AP Top 25 on Monday for the first time in seven weeks.
Tshiebwe finished with 21 points and 20 rebounds for the Wildcats (20-10, 11-6). Reeves added 14 points.
“He’s a load down there, but our guys just continued to battle,” Stackhouse said of Tshiebwe. “We still have a lot of basketball ahead of us, but we’re just happy about tonight, coming in, having something to play for this time of the year. And beating the king at its house is pretty special.”
Wright made all four 3-point attempts and was 8-of-12 overall from the field for his season high in points. Lawrence added 21 points and Quentin Millora-Brown had 10, including a buzzer-beating 3 to close the first half.
Vanderbilt won without 7-footer Liam Robbins, who injured his lower right leg early in the game after landing awkwardly while going for a rebound. He also missed the first meeting this season with Kentucky with an injury.
Stackhouse said Robbins would be evaluated.
Kentucky freshman guard Cason Wallace left the game early in the second half with a leg injury. Coach John Calipari said there was no swelling and hoped Wallace would be “OK” for Saturday’s regular-season finale at Arkansas.
The loss spoiled the presumed home finales for Tshiebwe — the consensus national player of the year last season — and five other seniors.
Tshiebwe naturally received the loudest cheers in a pregame ceremony that also recognized forwards Brennan Canada and Jacob Toppin as well as guards CJ Fredrick, Antonio Reeves and Sahvir Wheeler, who was absent after having a medical procedure on his ankle earlier in the day. Wheeler was represented by Calipari’s wife, Ellen, who wore the point guard’s No. 2 jersey. The coach said afterward that Wheeler would be out a couple of weeks.
The Wildcats overachieved to get their lead, and it just got harder after they yielded it by failing to stop Vanderbilt’s outside game. They missed 10 of their first 11 shots from behind the arc and finished just 3-of-19 from long range. Kentucky was also 25-of-35 from the foul line.
“When you shoot the way we shot today, you’re going to lose a lot of games,” said Calipari, whose team finished at 32%. “We got open shots, a lot of misses. We missed some free throws down the stretch that could have done some things.”