Why games like Kentucky-Tennessee are a big deal for Mark Pope’s vision for his program
Given the recent state of the rivalry — as well as the long history between these two teams — it’s always important when Kentucky and Tennessee meet on the basketball court.
Bragging rights are on the line for state schools that share a border, and — over the past decade — arguably no back and forth within the SEC has been better than the one between the Cats and the Vols.
Since Rick Barnes arrived as Tennessee’s coach ahead of the 2015-16 season, he has faced Kentucky 21 times. His Vols came out on top in 11 of those games, giving him a winning record over close friend John Calipari in this incarnation of their personal rivalry.
During that time, the two sides played 18 regular-season games. Each won nine times.
So, this one has been about as even as possible recently, and while Barnes will see a new face on the opposing sideline in Thompson-Boling Arena on Tuesday night — Mark Pope’s first game against the Vols as UK’s head coach — the talent on the court will look pretty much the same.
Tennessee comes in as the No. 8 team in the country. Kentucky is ranked No. 12. Both appear to be legitimate Final Four contenders. Whichever team wins Tuesday night will secure a major victory for its Selection Sunday résumé. But — in addition to that, plus the satisfaction of beating a big rival — there’s something else at stake here.
The winner of this matchup — and any others pitting two of the league’s presumed “best” teams against each other — will basically earn a double victory in the SEC standings. And this season, more than ever before, positioning in the SEC Tournament will be a big deal.
Mark Pope’s promise to fans
It’ll be a new-look SEC Tournament this season. The competition will now feature 16 teams — with Oklahoma and Texas entering the league — and that means the SEC Tournament bracket gets an update.
League officials decided to keep the “double bye” to the quarterfinals intact, giving the top four seeds in the tournament a clear path to the Friday games. Any of those teams would need just three victories — Friday, Saturday and Sunday — to win the SEC Tournament.
And winning the SEC Tournament is one of the items on Pope’s to-do list.
Achieving that feat was one of the first promises Pope made to Kentucky fans. That pledge came way back at his Rupp Arena reintroduction to Big Blue Nation in April, when Pope acknowledged that most coaches in his position would try to “moderate expectations” in the early going.
Instead, he made a statement that ended up being perhaps the most memorable line of the entire event.
“I understand the assignment,” Pope said then. “We are here to win banners. And as we go through this journey, we’re here to win banners in Nashville. Because you guys turn out in Nashville like nobody else, and that matters.”
Nashville, of course, is the usual home of the SEC Tournament — slated for March 12-16 at Bridgestone Arena this year — and Kentucky fans have traditionally outnumbered every other fan base combined at the event.
But UK hasn’t won the SEC Tournament since 2018 — the Cats haven’t even made the title game since then — and it’s now the longest such skid in program history. Calipari would often downplay the league tournament — even though he won it six times in his first nine seasons — and that rubbed many fans the wrong way, especially when the Cats flopped there in recent years. (They’ve won just one game in the event since 2019.)
Pope, of course, knew all of this, and his pledge to restore UK to glory in the SEC Tournament was met with one of the loudest applause breaks of his introductory event.
Winning the SEC Tournament might be more difficult this season than at any time in the past, however, and the best path to the trophy will start with grabbing one of those top four seeds.
2025 SEC Tournament bracket
In 13 of the past 14 editions of the SEC Tournament, the eventual champion has started its journey in the Friday quarterfinals after claiming a 1-4 seed. The exception was Auburn in 2019, when Bruce Pearl’s Tigers actually tied for fourth in the standings but ended up with the 5 seed on a tiebreaker and had to win four games to claim the trophy.
Other than that, you’d have to go back to 2009 — when Mississippi State won the event — to find the last example of an SEC Tournament champion that played before Friday’s quarterfinals.
Earning a 1-4 spot this year will be arguably as difficult as it’s ever been. Ten SEC teams are ranked in this week’s AP Top 25 poll, and four of those are ranked in the top 10 nationally.
Auburn (6-0 in the SEC) and Alabama (6-1) appear likely to grab two of those top four seeds. Kentucky (3-3) is considered to be one of the favorites for one of the other two spots, but the Wildcats go into the week at 10th in the league standings after Saturday’s loss to Vanderbilt.
Florida (5-2) and Tennessee (4-3) are ranked higher than UK in the AP poll and have been viewed to be among the Cats’ top competition for one of those top four seeds. Other possible contenders include Mississippi State, Texas A&M and Ole Miss, and they all entered the week at 4-3 in the league — a half-game up on UK in the standings.
That makes games like Tuesday night’s all the more important. If UK wins in Knoxville, the Cats would not only notch another victory, they would be handing a loss to one of their biggest perceived rivals for one of those top four spots. Wins in games such as these could also end up serving as potential tiebreakers at the end of the regular season.
And, of course, that makes losses in these matchups doubly dangerous for those battling for a 1-4 seed.
Kentucky basketball needs a win
There’s also the danger of falling into a Wednesday game at the SEC Tournament.
To accommodate the two new entries to the league, the SEC will now hold four games on Wednesday — the opening day of the event — instead of two. And that change means the No. 9 and 10 seeds will now have to start their SEC Tournament journey Wednesday instead of Thursday, a path that requires five victories to win the title.
In past years, being the 9 seed in the SEC Tournament might, at best, mean that squad was a bubble team for the NCAA Tournament. This year, the 9 seed in the league could conceivably be a Top 25 team in the national rankings, still in the mix for a 5ish seed in March Madness.
And the format changes to the SEC Tournament leave a finer line between playing your first game Friday and being forced to start your postseason journey Wednesday.
The Cats obviously don’t want to find themselves anywhere close to that 8-9 cutline in the final week of the regular season, but it’s not out of the question with so many difficult games left on their schedule beyond this week, teams like Missouri (5-2 in the league) and Vanderbilt (4-3) outperforming early expectations, and Kentucky dealing with so many injuries at the moment.
Lamont Butler and Kerr Kriisa will both be sidelined Tuesday night, according to the SEC injury report, and Andrew Carr remains questionable with a back injury that kept him out of Saturday’s loss at Vanderbilt. All of that will make the Cats major underdogs heading into Knoxville, where a loss would drop them to 3-4 in league play.
Even if UK misses out on a top-four SEC seed, simply being in the mix will position the Cats well for an enviable seed in the NCAA Tournament, no matter what they do in Nashville six weeks from now.
But after this SEC regular-season gauntlet, playing as few games in the league tournament as possible will surely be beneficial to the Cats’ overall health heading into the NCAA Tournament. And getting a Friday spot would be an ideal way to accomplish that goal while also putting Kentucky in the best spot possible to fulfill Pope’s promise and bring a trophy back to Lexington.
To do that, the Cats need to notch some victories. And Tuesday night — long as the odds might be — brings a big opportunity.
