Kentucky basketball great Chris Lofton earns ultimate honor during UK-Tennessee game
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Game day: Kentucky 63, No. 5 Tennessee 56
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Tennessee at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville.
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On a day when his home-state school played his alma mater, a Kentucky basketball great earned the greatest honor a Tennessee Volunteer can receive.
Chris Lofton’s jersey was retired to the rafters of Thompson-Boling Arena at halftime of the UK-Tennessee game Saturday afternoon.
Lofton — a 6-foot-2 guard from Maysville, Ky. — is one of the greatest players in UT basketball history and became a key figure in the Kentucky-Tennessee rivalry during his four seasons in college.
A standout player at Mason County High School, he led the Royals to the 2003 state championship and an appearance in the 2004 state title game — earning Sweet Sixteen MVP honors as a junior and the Kentucky Mr. Basketball award as a senior.
Despite his individual and team success, Lofton was not recruited by UK and did not have a scholarship offer from Louisville when it became time to make a college decision. He ended up at Tennessee — where he was recruited by then-coach Buzz Peterson — and became one of the most prolific scorers in Volunteers basketball history.
Lofton was also a bit of a thorn in Kentucky’s side. On and off the court.
As a basketball player, he helped lead the Vols to three wins over the Cats during his time in college — with a 3-6 overall record vs. UK — and that included a 31-point performance with seven three-pointers in a 75-67 victory over Kentucky in Rupp Arena as a sophomore.
As Lofton kept hitting big shots and putting up big numbers — playing his final three seasons for head coach Bruce Pearl — UK fans seethed that Tubby Smith and his coaching staff had let such a talent leave the commonwealth, especially since Lofton has stated that he wanted to play for the Cats.
Lofton ultimately finished with 2,131 career points at Tennessee, which stands as the fourth-most in program history. He also made 431 three-pointers, still the most all-time in the Southeastern Conference and — at the time of his departure from college — the third-most in NCAA history. Lofton was a 42.2-percent shooter from three-point range.
His jersey was just the fifth to be retired to the rafters, joining Tennessee greats Bernard King, Ernie Grunfeld, Allan Houston and Dale Ellis. Lofton wore No. 5 for the Volunteers.
Peterson and several of Lofton’s former Tennessee teammates were in attendance Saturday and introduced to the crowd during a timeout in the first half. Houston, another former Kentucky high school star (at Ballard) turned Tennessee Volunteer, was also at Saturday’s game. Houston is second to Lofton on the Vols’ all-time three-pointers list.
Tennessee Coach Rick Barnes came to Knoxville after Lofton’s playing career ended, but he said the former Vols guard has still been a big help.
“We all should be excited for Chris,” Barnes said. “I’ve never met anyone who can say one ill thing about Chris. When you come into a situation like we did eight years ago and you want to build something special — but you also know you need past players and people involved with you, to help you do that — he embraced us. …
“He’s real. He’s as real as can be.”
Lofton’s numbers took a slight dip during his final season of college, and he later revealed that he played his senior year while secretly battling cancer. As a junior, he was the SEC Player of the Year, and Lofton earned second-team All-America honors in each of his final two seasons. His professional career overseas lasted more than a decade.
This story was originally published January 14, 2023 at 1:13 PM.
