By Keith Taylor
Kentucky Today
Kentucky had no trouble beating Tennessee on its home floor. That was a month ago and things have changed in the past four weeks.
The tables turned Tuesday night as the Volunteers ran away with a 76-63 victory, handing the No. 4 Wildcats their first double-deficit loss of the year.
A 107-79 loss in Lexington on Jan. 15 served as a wake-up call for the Volunteers, who avoided a regular-season sweep at Thompson-Boling Arena. Tennessee notched its eighth-straight Southeastern Conference victory and ended Kentucky’s six-game winning streak.
Kentucky forward Oscar Tshiebwe reaches for a ball against Tennessee’s Jonas Aidoo. (Photo from UK Athletics)
“They needed more, wanted it more, they were more physical, took us out of stuff physically,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said. “Their guards kicked our guards … we hadn’t had one of these games in a while and we had one. They punched us in the mouth and we didn’t do the same to them.”
Kentucky (20-5, 10-3 Southeastern Conference) struggled to gain solid footing on Rocky Top and fell apart after scoring eight of the first 10 points. The Volunteers were on a mission to prove a point that last month’s wipeout blowout was a fluke and weren’t intimidated from start to finish.
On the other hand, Caliapri’s team was rattled early and slapped with a pair of technicals, including one on Calipari and another on trainer Rob Harris, which added to the Wildcats’ inability to get into a rhythm on offense. TyTy Washington return from a leg injury he suffered in a 78-57 win over Florida last Saturday, but struggled and managed just four points in 12 minutes. Calipari second-guessed his decision to insert Washington back into the starting lineup at the last minute.
“I shouldn’t have played him,” Calipari said. “…I was not going to play him in the second half and I did (and) I should have just followed my gut.”
Despite Tennessee’s energy-draining 17-1 run that wiped out the Wildcats’ impressive start, a surge that gave the Volunteers a 32-18 lead, Kentucky crawled within eight points twice in the second half, but failed to catch lightning in a bottle.
“We get it to eight, got the ball twice and then turned it over.” Calipari said. “Why did (we) go nuts and all the sudden it’s on them. We’re not ready for that right now. .. We had our chances.”
Tennessee (19-6, 10-3) regained control and didn’t look back.
Kentucky leading scorer and rebounding Oscar Tshiebwe led the Wildcats in both statistical categories with 13 points and 15 rebounds. Although he recorded a double-double, Tshiebwe made just five field goals on 15 attempts and played just 12 minutes in the opening half.
Despite the efforts by Tshiebwe, Jacob Toppin and Davion Mintz, who followed Tshiebwe with 11 points each, the Wildcats resembled the team that lost at Notre Dame and LSU instead of the one that won its last three road games, including an impressive 80-62 win at No. 6 Kansas on Jan. 29.
Overall, Calipari said his team simply didn’t “own their performance” and “got manhandled.”
“The game was physical and it was a bump and grind kind of game,” he said. “if you didn’t come to perform, you didn’t come up with rebounds, you didn’t make baskets, you got beat, When the phone call was made, you tell them I’m not talking about it, because you have to own it and you can’t let anybody alibi — own it.”
Calipari’s squad committed 14 turnovers and watched as the hosts converted 20 points off those miscues in transition. The Wildcats had 11 assists and shot 34 percent from the floor.
Gametracker: Alabama at Kentucky, 1 p.m., Saturday. TV/Radio: CBS, UK Radio Network.
Keith Taylor is sports editor for Kentucky Today. Reach him at keith.taylor@kentuckytoday.com and via Twitter at keithtaylor21.
