Even without Lamont Butler, the Kentucky Wildcats beat No. 5 Tennessee for a season sweep
READ MORE
Game day: No. 15 Kentucky 75, No. 5 Tennessee 64
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Tuesday night’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Tennessee in Rupp Arena.
Expand All
Underdogs on their home court against a team they’d already beaten on the road, the Kentucky Wildcats did it again Tuesday night.
UK defeated the No. 5 Tennessee Volunteers 75-64 in Rupp Arena, beating its biggest SEC rival for the second time in a span of two weeks and earning yet another victory over a team in the Associated Press top five.
The No. 15 Wildcats managed the victory despite losing starting point guard Lamont Butler midway through the second half. Butler, who missed three games with a left shoulder injury before returning in Saturday’s win over South Carolina, reinjured his shoulder diving to the floor for a loose ball with 8:40 left and did not return.
Kentucky led 54-52 at the time of Butler’s injury, and Tennessee took the lead a little more than a minute later. The game remained close from there, but Koby Brea’s 3-pointer with 4:21 left put UK ahead for good. Brea hit another 3 with 2:08 left to give Kentucky a 68-62 lead.
The Cats have now won three consecutive games against the Vols — a stretch that dates back to another upset in Knoxville at the end of last season — the first such run in this rivalry since Kentucky won six in a row in the series from 2010 to 2013.
UT has not beaten UK three times in a row since 1980.
Two weeks ago at Thompson-Boling Arena, the Cats were double-digit underdogs, playing without Butler and with starting power forward Andrew Carr limited to less than 90 seconds on the court. UK won anyway, beating the Vols 78-73.
On Tuesday night, the Cats were minus starting guard Jaxson Robinson — sidelined for the first time this season with a wrist injury — and Kentucky was a 3.5-point underdog just before tipoff, but Mark Pope’s team led for most of the game and held off Tennessee at the end.
UK freshman Trent Noah — a native of Harlan — got off to a hot start with nine points in the first half, all of those coming from behind the 3-point line. Noah led the Cats in scoring at halftime, helping Kentucky take a 33-26 lead into the locker room.
The Cats were 7-for-14 from 3-point range in the first half. Tennessee was 0-for-5 from deep before halftime after attempting 45 3-pointers in the first meeting two weeks ago. The Vols didn’t hit their first long-range shot until the opening minute of the second half and ended up 3-for-18 on 3-pointers Tuesday.
Kentucky was 12-for-24 from beyond the arc.
Ansley Almonor led the Cats with 13 points, along with Otega Oweh, who also had 13, including a dunk with 1:20 left to give UK a 70-62 lead and two free throws in the final minute. Brea and Noah had 11 points each.
This victory for Kentucky — coupled with the win from two weeks ago in Knoxville — means the Cats have swept the Vols in two of the past three seasons and won five of the last six games in the series. Rick Barnes had an 11-10 overall record over John Calipari across their nine seasons together in the rivalry.
The win also gave UK another major NCAA Tournament résumé-builder. The Cats are now 4-1 against teams in the current AP top five, with victories over the two teams tied at No. 3 in the voting this week — Duke and Florida — and the sweep of the Volunteers. They also have a win over Texas A&M, which is ranked No. 8 nationally in the latest poll.
Kentucky’s lone loss against that top-five company was to No. 2 Alabama last month. The Cats will play top-ranked Auburn in Rupp Arena on March 1.
Kentucky will be back on the road this weekend for its first game at Texas — one of the two newcomers to the SEC this season — at 8 p.m. EST Saturday on ESPN. The Longhorns brought a 15-9 record (and a 4-7 mark in the league) into this week, which began for them with a game against No. 2 Alabama late Tuesday night.
Texas was listed as a 10 seed and one of the final eight at-large teams for the 2025 NCAA Tournament field in the latest ESPN Bracketology update Tuesday morning. The Longhorns are led in scoring by star freshman Tre Johnson, who was a longtime UK recruiting target under John Calipari and came into the week averaging 19.0 points per game — tops in the SEC.
This story was originally published February 11, 2025 at 9:10 PM.
