LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Kentucky came into Saturday's SEC Tournament semifinal ranked No. 4 in the nation in offensive efficiency. Tennessee came in ranked No. 3 in the nation in defensive efficiency.
Defense may or may not win championships. But it did win the second SEC semifinal in Tampa, Fla. Kentucky struggled to one of its most anemic offensive outputs of the season, and Tennessee got 19 points from Kennedy Chandler to put away the No. 5-ranked Wildcats 69-62.
On a weekend when potential No. 1 seeds are dropping like flies, Kentucky will fly home and wait to see where its resume lands it.
The Wildcats weren't good offensively, but they didn't go down without a significant fight. They cut Tennessee's lead to 6 with a 6-0 run with 5:38 left, but the Vols got a driving layup by Kennedy Chandler, and wound up pushing the lead back to double digits.
Oscar Tshiebwe, Kentucky's national player of the year candidate, fouled out after being whistled for an offensive foul while tangled up with Tennessee's John Fulkerson with 3:37 left and Kentucky trailing 58-49. Tshiebwe finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds in 24 minutes.
Tennessee's Zakai Ziegler nailed a corner three on the other end to put Tennessee up by 12.
But Kentucky kept coming. A frenzied full-court defensive effort helped the Wildcats cut their deficit to 3 with 1:30 left. Sahvir Wheeler's drives to the rim, TyTy Washington scoring in the lane and two jumpers by Keion Brooks provided the offensive spark.
But having four straight shots off penetration to cut into the Volunteer lead, Kentucky took its final four shots from three-point range, and missed them all, as Tennessee pulled away.
Kentucky had two chances down four with under a minute to play, but missed three-pointers sealed their fate.
The Wildcats went 2-20 from 3-point range on the game, and shot just 34.4 percent overall. Tennessee made 6 of 15 threes and outscored Kentucky 17-1 off the bench. Chandler led the Vols with 19 points. Kentucky was led by Brooks with 19 points and Washington with 17.
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