Tennessee inflicts some payback on Kentucky, which loses TyTy to injury again
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Game day: No. 16 Tennessee 76, No. 4 Kentucky 63
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Tuesday night’s game between Kentucky and Tennessee at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tenn.
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This season’s first Kentucky-Tennessee game seemed to hover over Tuesday night’s rematch.
UK’s 107-79 victory over Tennessee in Rupp Arena on Jan. 15 was the seventh-largest victory margin for UK in the series. It was the fourth-largest since 1955. And it was the most points UK has ever scored against Tennessee.
Kentucky had its best shooting game of the season overall (67.9 percent) and from three-point range (61.1 percent). UK’s 67.9-percent shooting was the best by a Tennessee opponent since Rick Barnes became coach in 2015.
From the start of the rematch, it was apparent that Tennessee remembered the first game.
An inspired performance propelled Tennessee to a 76-63 victory in Knoxville.
Kentucky fell to 21-5 overall and 10-3 in the Southeastern Conference. The latter left UK tied with Tennessee (19-6 and 10-3) for second place in the SEC. First-place Auburn (11-1) plays a home game Wednesday against Vanderbilt.
Tennessee has defeated Kentucky at least once in a seventh straight season.
Yet another injury to freshman TyTy Washington made the mountain Kentucky had to climb steeper. He left UK’s victory Saturday when a Florida player seeking to retrieve a loose ball dove into his left leg.
At Tennessee, a seemingly awkward step sent him to the bench 45 seconds into the second half. He played 13 minutes and scored four points. He had a season-high 28 points in the first game against Tennessee.
It was that kind of night for Kentucky.
In the beatdown of Tennessee last month, Kentucky only missed 18 shots.
In the rematch, UK missed 19 in the first half.
Another startling reversal of fortune involved points off turnovers. In the first game, Tennessee committed 20 turnovers. That led to a 32-11 advantage for Kentucky in points off turnovers.
In the rematch, Tennessee committed only five turnovers and enjoyed a 20-7 advantage in points off turnovers.
Oscar Tshiebwe scored 13 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to extend his double-double streak to eight straight games.
Davion Mintz and Jacob Toppin each scored 11 points.
Kentucky trailed 46-32 at halftime, and it felt like it could have been worse. The Cats did not have a basket from the 13:57 mark until Davion Mintz made a three-pointer with three minutes left. During that almost 11-minute drought, Kentucky stayed reasonably close by making seven of eight free throws.
But Kentucky missed 11 straight shots and committed five turnovers while Tennessee erased a 17-15 UK lead and went ahead 39-24.
From the start, the game was intense. Three technical fouls were called before the second television timeout.
UK Coach John Calipari received a technical foul at the 16:14 mark. He seemed to be protesting Tshiebwe’s first foul, which came on an attempt to grab an offensive rebound.
Barely two minutes later, double technical fouls were called on Tennessee freshman Zakai Zeigler and UK’s strength and conditioning coach Robert Harris.
What led to the double technicals was Tennessee “big” John Fulkerson falling into the UK bench while trying to save a ball. As players from both teams gathered and booes filled Thompson-Boling Arena, Zeigler shoved Harris.
Freshman Kennedy Chandler sparked Tennessee’s breakout. His back-to-back three-pointers put UK behind 23-17. Another three-pointer, this time by Josiah-Jordan James gave Tennessee its first double-digit lead (30-18) and prompted a Kentucky timeout with 9:19 left.
Another basket by Chandler, who had 15 first-half points, completed a 17-1 run that put Tennessee ahead 32-18.
The first-half numbers reflected Tennessee’s dominance. The Vols had only five turnovers after committed 20 in Lexington.
Tennessee outscored UK 14-4 on the fast break (27-1 in UK’s favor in Rupp Arena) and 9-2 in points off turnovers (32-11 for UK in January).
One hopeful sign was Kellan Grady’s first basket. It was a three-pointer with 29.4 seconds left.
Tennessee did not make a field goal in nearly the first three minutes of the second half. But four UK turnovers in that span delayed a comeback.
It came after a Fulkerson basket put Tennessee ahead 51-34 with 16:30 left. That marked Kentucky’s biggest deficit of the season. The previous biggest deficit was 15 against Duke.
Kentucky scored the game’s next nine points..
The momentum was all on Kentucky’s side at the second television timeout. UK held a 13-3 rebound advantage. Tennessee had made only three of its first 13 shots of the second half.
Tennessee scored the next 10 points. Santiago Vescovi capped the mini-run with a reverse layup that put Kentucky behind 63-45.
UK could not wait for the under-eight television break. UK called time with 8:30 left.
Next game
No. 25 Alabama at No. 4 Kentucky
When: 1 p.m. Saturday
TV: CBS-27
This story was originally published February 15, 2022 at 11:32 PM.
