The Kentucky Wildcats closed out a win in Memorial Gymnasium to beat Vanderbilt 69-63 Saturday night in Nashville, Tenn.

After winning the first possession on the tip-off, Vandy came out scoring the first bucket to take an early lead, but it switched leads with UK throughout the first 10 minutes of play and continued to go shot-for-shot for the bulk of the second half.

“We need all this,” head coach John Calipari said. “I’d rather be up 23, but this was a good game.”

UK strung together an 8-0 run to widen the margin to lead 18-11 with 8:05 to play in the half after sophomore guard Doron Lamb lobbed to sophomore forward Terrence Jones.

The Cats continued to increase the lead 30-16 with 3:14 to play in the half. Jones led the Cats in the first half with 14 points and five rebounds. He finished with 14 points, nine rebounds and four blocks.

Calipari said running the floor in Memorial Gymnasium would be a challenge, but Teague recorded eight points, six assists and three rebounds in the first 20 minutes.

“All of the sudden he’s transformed into what one of our typical point guard plays like,” Calipari said. “He’s running the team; he’s defending, making layups, making good decisions and getting us in an offense.”

He finished with 13 points, eight assists, four rebounds and one turnover.

The Cats led at haltime 36-23, but Vandy scored an early seven points to close the lead 38-30.

The Commodores continued to close the lead, splashing back-to-back threes, trailing 41-44 with 14:05 left to play.

“They’re a great three-point shooting team and they came out shooting threes,” freshman forward Anthony Davis said. “They got back in the game, so we knew we had to lock up defensively.”

Each time UK pulled up by a few possessions, Vanderbilt climbed back within reach. The Commodores tied the score at 48-48 with 11:57 to play after going on a 7-0 run.

“We just needed a game where we had to fight,” Teague said. “This was a good game for us to build up on our experience.”

The Cats have a week-long break before playing Ole Miss at Rupp Arena on Feb. 18., but Calipari said the team approaches home games the same way they approach games on the road.

“This was another game for us. We didn’t play this any bigger than any other game,” Calipari said. “We handled this exactly like we (have) and exactly like we’ll handle our game this weekend against Mississippi.