First Scouting Report: UK gets another shot at nemesis Rick Barnes and Tennessee
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Game day: No. 5 Kentucky 77, Vanderbilt 71
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Friday night’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Vanderbilt at the SEC Tournament in Tampa, Fla.
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A look ahead to the Kentucky Wildcats’ next men’s basketball game:
The opponent
SEC Tournament No. 3-seed Kentucky (26-6) will face No. 2-seed Tennessee (24-7) on Saturday at Amalie Arena (basketball capacity 20,500) in Tampa, Fla.
The game will tip off at about 3:25 p.m. (EST) and be telecast by ESPN.
Coach Rick Barnes’ Volunteers defeated No. 10-seed Mississippi State 72-59 Friday night.
Series history
Kentucky leads the all-time series with Tennessee 158-76 but the Volunteers have won five of the past eight meetings.
This season’s meetings
▪ In the first of two Wildcats-Volunteers matchups, Kentucky put on a sizzling display of shooting, making 38 of 56 field goals, 11 of 18 three-pointers and 20 of 21 free throws to annihilate the visiting Volunteers 107-79 on Jan. 15, 2022, at Rupp Arena.
UK freshman TyTy Washington hit 10 of 13 shots and scored 28 points; junior point guard Sahvir Wheeler went 8-of-10 and had 21 points; super-senior wing Kellan Grady swished five of eight shot attempts, four of seven treys, and finished with 16 points.
The game occurred on the day that former Kentucky head coach Joe B. Hall died in Lexington at age 93.
▪ It was all Big Orange in the rematch, as the Tennessee backcourt controlled the game in a 76-63 Volunteers victory on Feb. 15, 2022, at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville.
Santiago Vescovi went for a team-high 18 points for UT; freshman point guard Kennedy Chandler added 17 points, five rebounds and six assists; and freshman super-sub Zakai Zeigler had 14 points, four assists and four steals to pace the Volunteers.
Senior big man John Fulkerson added 14 points and eight rebounds for UT.
Power rankings
Through Thursday’s games, the NCAA’s NET Rankings had Kentucky No. 3 and Tennessee No. 9
The Kenpom Rankings rated UK No. 2 and Tennessee No. 11.
Kentucky stood No. 4 in the Sagarin Ratings with Tennessee No. 12.
Know your foe
1. Josiah-Jordan James ignited UT’s victory over Mississippi State in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals. The 6-foot-6, 214-pound junior hit four of six treys and scored 16 points. A Charleston, S.C., product, James also had five rebounds and four assists.
The worrisome development for the Volunteers in the MSU game was that prized freshman point guard Kennedy Chandler battled an ankle problem throughout the game.
2. This will be the third SEC Tournament meeting between UK and UT since Rick Barnes joined the Volunteers in 2015-16.
In the 2018 SEC Tournament finals, Kentucky freshman point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 29 points, seven rebounds and three assists to lead UK to a 77-72 win over Tennessee in St. Louis.
The following season, the Vols got revenge on the Cats. Admiral Schofield scored 21 points, Grant Williams 20 and Jordan Bone 18 as UT beat UK 82-78 in the SEC tourney semifinals in Nashville.
Overall, Barnes is 9-7 against Kentucky as Tennessee head man. John Calipari is 16-11 vs. UT has UK coach.
3. Tennessee super-senior John Fulkerson will play against Kentucky for an amazing 13th time Saturday. The 6-9, 219-pound product of Kingsport, Tenn., has averaged 6.0 points and 3.7 rebounds vs. the Cats.
Fulkerson has gone scoreless vs. UK in five of the 12 games he has played vs. the Wildcats.
However, his signature moment as a Tennessee basketball player came against Kentucky in Rupp Arena in 2019-20.
“Fulky” hit 10 of 17 shots, seven of seven free throws and scored 27 points while also grabbing six rebounds as UT rallied from 42-31 down at halftime to an 81-73 victory.
Tennessee has gone 7-5 vs. Kentucky in Fulkerson’s long, long, long career vs. the Cats.
This story was originally published March 11, 2022 at 10:43 PM.
