Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s loss at revenge-minded Tennessee
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Game day: No. 16 Tennessee 76, No. 4 Kentucky 63
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Tuesday night’s game between Kentucky and Tennessee at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tenn.
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Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s 76-63 loss to Tennessee in Knoxville on Tuesday:
1. Kentucky got rattled on Rocky Top
I wrote coming in that this would be Kentucky’s most difficult game of the season and it played out that way. No way the Vols had forgotten that embarrassing 107-79 beating they took at Rupp Arena back on Jan. 5. Tennessee was motivated. It was ready. It had the home floor advantage at Thompson-Boling Arena, a sweet spot where Rick Barnes’ club was 13-0 this year and had won 14 straight overall.
Then, with 13:45 left in the first half, the home team received some extra incentive. UT forward John Fulkerson stumbled into the Kentucky bench. When his teammates came to his aid, a skirmish broke out. After the two teams were separated, the Vols’ Zakai Zeigler and UK strength coach Robert Harris were hit with technical fouls.
If the fuse wasn’t lit before, it was now. After the dust-up, Tennessee rocketed on a 17-1 run. Kentucky led 17-15 at the time of the well, whatever that was. Five minutes later, Tennessee held a commanding 32-18 advantage. In fact, UK went without a field goal from a Jacob Toppin basket with 13:57 left to a Davion Mintz three-pointer with 3:00 left it the half. That’s a drought of nearly 11 minutes. Tough to win that way, especially against a good opponent on that opponent’s home floor.
The Cats did slice the lead to eight points at 53-45 with 11:30 left, only to suffer another scoring drought. This one lasted five minutes. Tennessee scored 12 points for a 65-45 lead. And the Vols had their payback.
2. Tennessee’s guards won the night
The Vols’ triple threat backcourt were the MVPs. Freshman guard Kennedy Chandler scored 15 points in the first half while running mate Santiago Vescovi added 14. And when those two had trouble scoring in the second half, Zeigler stepped in, scoring 10 of his 14 points over the final 20 minutes.
The Vols shot a respectable 44.4 percent from the floor for the night, but they dominated on the defensive end. Kentucky shot 67.9 percent in the romp at Rupp. Tuesday, the Cats shot but 34.3 percent, their worst shooting percentage since 31.8 percent against Tennessee in the same building on March 2, 2019.
“They needed it more, they wanted it more,” UK head coach John Calipari said afterward, adding that the Vols were the more physical team all night. “They manhandled us.”
Meanwhile, UK guard TyTy Washington, who injured his ankle last Saturday against Florida, started and played 12 minutes before appearing to re-aggravate the injury 45 seconds into the second. “If I had it to do over again I would not have played TyTy,” Calipari said afterward.
Sahvir Wheeler scored eight points and had five assists, but he was also responsible for three of UK’s 14 turnovers. He left the game late holding his wrist, an injury he appeared to have suffered when Zeigler slowly backed into Wheeler in the backcourt, drawing a foul.
Meanwhile, Kellan Grady never got into the flow. He finished 2-for-9 from the floor, including 2-for-6 from three-point range. “They were all over him,” Calipari said.
3. The hope is Kentucky learned a lesson
To be honest, the loss doesn’t change my opinion about this Kentucky team. Health is a problem, yes. But you knew Tennessee was going to be highly motivated and the fact is the Vols are playing good basketball right now. This was their eighth straight conference victory since losing to Kentucky in Lexington. Tennessee is now 19-6 overall, 10-3 in the conference.
Kentucky is also 10-3 in the league and 21-5 overall. And after six straight victories, and a climb up the AP Top 25 ladder to No. 4, the Cats learned they are far from infallible. They can beat anyone in the country, but they can also be beaten.
Toppin said that when the team got into the visitors’ locker room after the final horn, it was in agreement: “We needed this. This was a wake-up call.”
Five regular-season games remain. Alabama comes to Rupp Arena on Saturday wanting to avenge its Feb. 5 loss to UK in Tuscaloosa. LSU visits next week, before Kentucky travels to Arkansas to face the Razorbacks, who won at Missouri 76-57 on Tuesday for their 10th win in their last 11 games.
Said Calipari, “We’re one of the better teams in the country, that’s who we are. Now we’ve got to go play that way.”
This story was originally published February 16, 2022 at 12:32 AM.
