When Jacob Toppin transferred from Rhode Island to Kentucky, the speculation was he might sit out the season.
That he decided to play paid off in Kentucky’s 82-78 victory at Vanderbilt on Wednesday. His career-high 16 points included making four of four free throws in the final 31 seconds.
“For Jacob, this is found money,” UK Coach John Calipari said. “This is money he found in the couch. Nice bit of change he picked up.”
Toppin had not scored double-digit points since getting 10 in the first Auburn game Jan. 16. And he had only two such games all season.
Calipari suggested Toppin’s breakout at Vandy marked Kentucky as “a real team.” This seemed to follow the UK coach’s stated wish to have multiple players capable of starring performances.
“A real team … really doesn’t know who’s going to have that big game,” Calipari said. “And whoever it is, everybody’s ecstatic for (him). And they were ecstatic for him.”
This led Calipari to declare, “We’re becoming a team.”
Toppin contributed on defense, too. He was one of the UK defenders that hounded Vandy’s star point guard, Scotty Pippen Jr. He scored 21 points, but he but made only five of 19 shots (one of seven on threes). He also committed five turnovers while getting credit for three assists.
Toppin noted the help defense ready to help challenge Pippen. “We ended up executing defensively,” Toppin said.
Toppin said he talks regularly with older brother Obi Toppin, a rookie with the New York Knicks.
“That’s ‘Big Bro,’” he said. “I’m ‘Little Bro.’ And we love each other.”
Of those regular conversations with his brother, Toppin said. “We’re just making sure our mentality is right. Whether we have a bad game, whether we have a good game, we’re keeping ourselves mellow.”
Assists
UK had 18 assists. That marked its third straight game in double digits. In that span, UK has had 51 assists.
That’s for a team that had eight or fewer six previous games this season.
“Do you understand, a month ago … no one wanted to pass to anybody, and they’d all look bad,” Calipari said. “We couldn’t score 55 points.”
UK has averaged 81.3 points in its last three games.
With 15 turnovers at Vandy, UK had a positive assist-to-turnover ratio for a third straight game. That had happened in only five earlier games.
Still learning
UK and Vandy each scored 18 points inside the final four minutes. UK has outscored opponents in the last four minutes only five times all season.
“We’re still learning as a team,” Toppin said. “I think we’re getting better down the stretch. We still make a few mistakes that we need to fix.
“With experience, we’re going to fix them. And I believe this team is going in the right direction and we’ve just got to keep pushing.”
‘Fun’
Calipari spoke of defensive changes helping contain Pippen. Last week he spoke of a new wrinkle to combat opponents fronting the post (high-low action).
“I love it,” Calipari said. “I told the team, this is what makes it fun for me. Coming up with things offensively and defensively that can help them.”
Wins and losses
Calipari improved his career record against Vanderbilt to 21-4. He can equal that record for most victories against any opponent against Florida on Feb. 27. His record against the Gators is 20-8.
Kentucky’s next opponent is the program that has beaten Calipari the most times. His record against Tennessee is 17-13. His second-most defeats have come against Temple, which has beaten Calipari-coached teams 11 times in 24 games.
Block party
Kentucky blocked 11 Vanderbilt shots. That marked the second straight game reached double digits for blocks. The Cats rejected 10 Auburn shots Saturday.
UK had not blocked 10 or more shots in two straight games since November 2014: 12 against Montana State and 11 against UT Arlington.
In Calipari’s 12 seasons as coach, Kentucky had blocked 10 or more shots in two straight SEC games only once previously. The Anthony Davis-led Cats blocked 11 shots against Tennessee on Jan. 31, 2012, and then 11 more against South Carolina on Feb. 4.
Going into Wednesday, SEC teams ranked first, second and third in average blocks per game.
Florida, which is scheduled to play at UK on Feb. 27, led the nation with an average of 6.33 blocks per game. Colin Castleton ranked 13th nationally with an average of 2.64 blocks.
Auburn ranked second with an average of 6.14 blocks. Kentucky ranked third at 6.11.
Isaiah Jackson ranked 11th with an average of 2.74 blocks.
Charles Bassey of Western Kentucky ranked second nationally at 3.22 blocks per game.