Where there’s a Willis, there’s a trey in UK’s 80-70 win over Vols

Derek Willis walked carefully and slow toward his post-game media duties Thursday night.

He hobbled up to a seat on a podium and sighed as reporters leaned in expecting to hear Willis talk about his career-high 25-point game and Kentucky’s 80-70 victory over Tennessee.

“My whole body is hurting,” Willis said. “It’s kind of deteriorating right now.”

His dramatic mid-season change of roles has taken a toll, he said. Think mild-mannered Clark Kent becoming, if not Superman, then a supremely important man to UK’s basketball fortunes.

Willis made a career-high seven three-pointers. Those shots helped Kentucky make a bit of three-point history. The Cats made 11, marking the fourth straight game in which UK made 10 or more three-pointers. That equaled the longest streak in program history.

Four previous times Kentucky teams made a double-digit number of three-pointers in four straight games: 1989-90, 1992-93 and twice in the 1994-94 season.

Of more immediate concern, Tennessee Coach Rick Barnes credited Willis for making a critical difference in UK’s fourth straight victory by a double-digit margin.

“You’ve got to believe (Tyler Ulis) and Jamal Murray are going to get theirs . . . ,” Barnes said. “You can’t have a guy like Willis break out like he did. You can’t have that third or fourth guy get going, and that’s what happened.”

To hear Willis, his dramatic increase in playing time has come at a cost. He said he’s been experiencing back spasms for several weeks. He tapped his right knee and said there’s tendinitis. He tapped his left knee and said he did not know the source of pain there.

“I feel pretty horrible,” he said. “I’m not going to lie. I feel terrible.”

That raised a question. The made-for-TV scheduling in the Southeastern Conference calls for Kentucky to play again within 48 hours, The Cats, who improved to 20-6 overall and 10-3 in the league (good for sole possession of first place for the first time this season), play at Texas A&M late Saturday afternoon.

Willis said he would rest and get an hour or more of treatment Friday. Any further rest is not an option.

“I don’t think I can take a game off,” he said.

UK’s front-court suffered another setback Thursday. Marcus Lee did not play in the second half because of back pain. Alex Poythress has not played since Feb. 2 because of a knee injury. UK Coach John Calipari has expressed doubt about Poythress playing at Texas A&M.

With Willis’ perimeter shooting stretching defenses, UK’s guards benefited.

Murray led UK with 28 points. Ulis, who made only three of 15 shots, contributed 11 points and nine assists. Isaiah Briscoe grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds.

Tennessee fell to 12-14 overall and 5-8 in the SEC. The Vols’ record away from home slipped to 1-12.

Kevin Punter, who came into the game with the best field goal percentage of any SEC guard (46.6 percent), made only four of 14 shots while scoring 19 points. Armani Moore led UT with 21 points.

As in Knoxville earlier in the month, UK led by six at halftime. This time the score was 36-30 as opposed to the 42-36 lead at Tennessee.

A three-pointer by Willis, his second of the half, gave the Cats an 11-point bulge.

Kentucky broke open the game early in the second half. A 13-1 run capped by Ulis’s only three-pointer in four attempts expanded the lead to 54-36. That prompted a Tennessee timeout with 16:09 left.

Kentucky made its 10th three-pointer with 12:34 left. Murray’s offensive rebound set up the shot. The Cats worked the ball to Murray, who swished a shot from the right wing.

As if to remind fans that Kentucky can’t live by treys alone, the Cats got their first post-up basket with 10:50 left. Skal Labissiere posted on the left block, turned into the lane and hit a right-handed hook.

Thursday-Saturday

Kentucky and Tennessee face the two-games-in-three-days SEC scheduling dilemma.

“It’s hard,” Calipari said earlier in the week. “We struggled with the quick turnaround this year. So we’ve got to look at what we do and how we do it. Maybe try something a little different.”

UK plays at Texas A&M Saturday. Game time is 6:30 p.m. EST.

Calipari rationalized the tight schedule (a third game in six days comes next Tuesday against charging Alabama) by telling the players playing games is better than practice.

Tennessee faces a slightly tighter schedule, but a much shorter trip between games. The Vols play LSU in Knoxville on Saturday. Game time is 5:30 p.m. EST.

UT Coach Rick Barnes was philosophical about the made-for-TV scheduling.

“It is what it is,” he said.

Go big boos

Perhaps as a hangover from the South Carolina game, UK fans disagreed early and often with the officiating.

It took all of 13 seconds for the first boos. Joe Lindsay called Murray for going out of bounds and then returning inbounds on a baseline cut.

At the end of the half, the referees had whistled UK for eight fouls. And seven times UK fans booed an officiating decision. But not every foul on UK was booed. Sometimes it was a possession call that drew boos.

The final count was 19 fouls on UK and 13 rounds of boos by UK fans, including once when the referees halted play so a wet spot on the court could be dried.

This story was originally published February 18, 2016 at 9:31 PM with the headline "Where there’s a Willis, there’s a trey in UK’s 80-70 win over Vols."