Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 82-71 loss to No. 11 Tennessee
Five things you need to know from the Kentucky Wildcats’ 82-71 loss to the No. 11 Tennessee Volunteers in an SEC college basketball game at Rupp Arena in downtown Lexington:
1. Tennessee’s fabulous freshmen. As has often been the case in Rupp Arena during the John Calipari coaching era, dynamic freshmen took over a game in dazzling fashion.
The twist being, it was Tennessee’s frosh who wowed.
Keon Johnson, a home-grown 6-foot-5, 186-pound product of Shelbyville, Tenn., went for a game-high 27 points.
Jaden Springer, a 6-4, 206-pound Charlotte, N.C., native, had 23 points.
The UT freshmen combined to hit 18 of 33 shots (Johnson nine of 16, Springer nine of 17).
Time after time, the two Tennessee frosh drove the ball dead at Kentucky defenders.
The Cats had no answers.
2. Volunteers erase another big Kentucky lead. Last season in Rupp Arena, Tennessee uncorked a 29-9 run to overturn a 51-34 Kentucky second-half lead en route to a stunning 81-73 victory.
This year, UK had a 58-48 second-half advantage when Brandon Boston dunked off a nifty assist from Devin Askew with 12 minutes left in the game.
Led by Johnson and Springer, Tennessee ended the contest on a 34-13 rampage.
The two massive rallies gave Tennessee its first back-to-back wins ever in Rupp Arena (which opened in 1976-77).
3. Turnovers lead to drought. In opening a 44-36 halftime lead, Kentucky turned the ball over only twice. For a team that had lost the ball at least 17 times in each of its past five losses, that was massive.
Alas, the Cats reverted to form in half two, turning it over 11 times after halftime.
Miscues played a big role in a UK scoring drought that lasted from 12:00 to 8:11 of the second half, the period when UT rallied from 58-48 down to 60-58 ahead.
The futility for UK (5-12, 4-6 SEC) wasted a stellar individual performance by sophomore forward Keion Brooks (23 points, 11 rebounds) and a mostly strong showing by freshman point guard Devin Askew (14 points, five rebounds, four assists, only two turnovers).
4. Rick Barnes cements his place on an elite list. Tennessee’s win made the Volunteers head man 9-7 all-time vs. Kentucky — 1-1 as Clemson head man, 0-1 at Texas and now 8-5 as leader of the Rocky Toppers.
Barnes is one of only three active head coaches in men’s NCAA Division I basketball who had faced UK in at least five games and has a winning mark vs. the Cats.
The other two?
One is obvious.
Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski is 6-2 against UK.
The other, not so much.
Current Nevada head man Steve Alford is 4-3 vs. Kentucky — 1-1 as Iowa coach, 3-2 at UCLA.
5. All-time wins battle. With its loss, Kentucky missed a chance to gain a game back on Kansas in the fight for the status as the all-time winningest program in men’s college basketball history.
The Wildcats (5-12) have 2,323 all-time wins.
Kansas (12-7) lost 91-79 Saturday at West Virginia, and Bill Self’s Jayhawks have now lost five of their past seven games.
KU has 2,314 all-time victories. Now nine victories behind, the Jayhawks began this season 16 wins behind Kentucky.
Given how poorly the UK season has gone, Kentucky is fortunate not to have lost more ground.
This story was originally published February 6, 2021 at 10:31 PM.
