Vandy's Freiji held to 13 points from the field LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) -- Kentucky opened defense of its Southeastern Conference title in a familiar way -- a homecourt win over Vanderbilt. Kelenna Azubuike, Gerald Fitch and Erik Daniels each scored 16 points to lead the Wildcats (No. 5 ESPN/USA Today, No. 7 AP) to a 75-63 victory over Vanderbilt (No. 21 ESPN/USA Today, No. 20 AP) on Saturday night. Kentucky (10-1) committed 23 turnovers but held off a second-half rally by the Commodores (12-1, 1-1 SEC), who had been off to the best start in school history. Kentucky, which went 16-0 in the SEC last season and also won the league tournament, has not lost to Vanderbilt in 27 games at Rupp Arena since the facility opened during the 1976-77 season. The Wildcats have won 16 of their last 17 SEC openers and 22 of their last 23 games against Vanderbilt. "Our kids struggled taking care of the ball," Kentucky coach Tubby Smith said. "But we showed a lot of moxie, a lot of grit, to not fold, even when things weren't going as well as we would've hoped. We made some clutch plays." Link
