LEXINGTON, Ky. (WDRB) – The University of Kentucky basketball team popped its head up into Tennessee’s month-long perch at No. 1, and delivered a statement Saturday night.
Loosely translated, it reads: You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.
The No. 5-ranked Wildcats vaporized the Vols early in the second half, to the delight of a Rupp Arena crowd of 24,467 whose roars may yet still be ringing through the moonlit hills of the Bluegrass.
The final: Kentucky 86, Tennessee 69.
Kentucky may not have climbed onto the NCAA Tournament top-seed line with this victory, but they played like a No. 1 seed. Four nights after a heartbreaking home loss to LSU on a disputed tip-in at the buzzer, Kentucky played like it wanted to win both games on Saturday.
"I hit them right after the game with LSU and just said, hey, that was a tough loss, but you know what, we needed it," Kentucky coach John Calipari said after the game. "Because our team was changing, we weren't the defensive team that we had been. We have individuals changing how they were playing when they were successful. We needed to get it back . . . And you know what? Sometimes you got to get knocked in the head to know that. So the loss to LSU probably helped us win this game."
The Wildcats led a Tennessee team whose largest deficit all season had been 12 points by 24 just 6 ½ minutes into the second half.
The Volunteers, who are too good a team just to lay down, fought back to get it to an 11-point deficit. But Kentucky was quicker, sharper, more physical and far more energetic on this night, from the opening tip.
Kentucky’s P.J. Washington scored the Wildcats’ first seven points to put the Wildcats up 7-4. A couple of trips later, freshman Keldon Johnson went on a run, scoring 11 straight, including a trio of three-pointers that put the Rupp Arena crowd into celebration mode early.
Still, Kentucky, for all of the good things it was doing, led by just six at the half.
In the second, the Wildcats threw a knockout punch. They stormed out at the bell and hit Tennessee with a 14-0 run to go up 51-31, forcing a Rick Barnes timeout. It took the Vols nearly five minutes to score their first field goal of the second half, then more than three more to score another one.
"Against the No. 1 team in the country (that run) is a big deal," Calipari said. "I know how good Tennessee is."
Kentucky hounded the Vols in the halfcourt. It bullied them on the boards. It won the battles for loose balls. Against a team with a reputation for experience and toughness, Kentucky played like the tougher, more seasoned team.
Because this season, it may well be.
Though Tennessee had won 19 straight coming in, it was playing only its third game of the season against a Top 25 opponent, and it showed. It looked listless, but much of that was due to Kentucky’s aggression. Even when the Wildcats weren’t piling up points, they were stifling Tennessee’s offensive options, and wearing the Volunteers down with their effort.
"They beat us in just about every way," Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said.
The numbers: P.J. Washington had 23 points and five rebounds. Tyler Herro had 15 points and 13 boards. Johnson scored 19 points. The Wildcats shot 54 percent from the field. They outrebounded Tennessee by 13.
About the only problem came with 1:35 left, when the Rupp Arena crowd started screaming “over-rated.” Calipari shot up out of his seat, waving his arms at fans and shouting, “No! No!”
"I know how good they are, that's why I told our fans, enough of the overrated. They're not overrated," Calipari said. ". . . They are the No. 1 team in the country. They missed some shots the normally make. . . . We got them today, but we got to go up to Knoxville."
Or down, but don't stop him while he's on a roll.
If anything, the crowd should’ve been chanting “Under-rated.” Kentucky’s loss to LSU may keep it from making another big step up in the AP poll.
But after Saturday’s nationally televised demolition of No. 1 Tennessee, the Wildcats have their foot on the next step – and they’re still climbing.
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