First Scouting Report: Can Kentucky finally beat Tennessee again in Rupp Arena?
An early look ahead to the Kentucky Wildcats’ next men’s basketball game:
The opponent
No. 18 Kentucky (13-3, 3-1 SEC) will face No. 22 Tennessee (11-4, 2-2 SEC) on Saturday, Jan. 15, at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center (capacity 20,545):
The game will tip off at 1 p.m. (EST) and be telecast by ESPN.
Coach Rick Barnes’ Volunteers defeated South Carolina 66-46 Tuesday night at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville.
Series history
Kentucky leads the all-time series with Tennessee 157-75.
Most recent meeting
Isaiah Jackson had 16 points and seven rebounds and Davion Mintz added 15 points and two assists to lead Kentucky to a 70-55 victory over Tennessee on Feb. 20, 2021, at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Power rankings
Through Monday’s games, the NCAA’s NET Rankings had Kentucky No. 16 and Tennessee No. 10.
The Kenpom Rankings rated UK No. 10 and Tennessee No. 14.
Kentucky stood No. 152 in the Sagarin Ratings with Tennessee No. 14.
Know your foe
1. Since Rick Barnes was hired as Tennessee coach before the 2015-16 season, the Volunteers have had the upper hand on Kentucky. UT is 8-6 vs. UK under Barnes.
Barnes has beaten the Wildcats three times in Rupp Arena — 61-59 in 2017-18, 81-73 in 2019-20, and 82-71 last season.
2. Auburn transfer and former North Oldham High School star Justin Powell has not played as large a role so far at Tennessee as many expected.
One of the more-coveted players in the transfer portal after last season, the 6-foot-6, 197-pound sophomore was averaging 6.2 points, 1.9 rebounds and 0.9 assists going into Tuesday night’s game with South Carolina.
That is a far cry from the 11.7 points, 6.1 rebounds and 4.7 assists that Powell averaged last season in 10 games at Auburn before being injured.
Asked after Tennessee’s short-handed 73-68 loss at Alabama what Powell needed to do to earn more clock, Barnes said, “I just know that Justin, we need him. We need him in a big way.”
3. Longtime UK nemesis John Fulkerson is using the NCAA’s “free COVID-19 year” and is back for a sixth season of college basketball.
The 6-9, 219-pound graduate student was making 53.9 percent of his shots going into the South Carolina game but his scoring (8.9 points) was actually down from previous seasons (13.7 points in 2019-20, 9.5 per game last season).
Fulkerson had 27 points and six rebounds in UT’s 81-73, come-from-behind win over UK in Rupp Arena in 2019-20.
A Kingsport, Tenn., product, Fulkerson has been in college basketball so long, he played three minutes when Tennessee beat Kentucky 61-59 in Rupp in 2017-18.
This story was originally published January 11, 2022 at 8:49 PM.
