Rob Dillingham after Kentucky's loss to Tennessee: We need Tre Mitchell

Kentucky freshman guard Robert Dillingham lit up the scoreboard in Rupp Arena on Saturday night after scoring a career-high 35 points against Tennessee. But unfortunately for the Wildcats, his scoring outburst did not result in a win, with the Vols defeating Kentucky 103-92 to represent their third loss in four games.

While the first-year player scored with ease, Kentucky’s veteran graduate student Tre Mitchell struggled offensively with zero points on the night. After the game, Dillingham was asked about Mitchell’s off-game and his importance to the Wildcats’ success.

“Yeah we definitely need Tre, because when Tre doesn’t perform or when Antonio [Reeves] doesn’t perform their best it’s like we’re a little short and it comes down to the end,” Dillingham said. “But when they perform it just takes us over the top.”

Reeves held up his end of the bargain on Saturday as the Wildcats leading scorer on the season, with his 21 points trailing only behind Dillingham’s 35 on the team. But the zero-point performance from Mitchell was uncharacteristic, averaging 12.3 points per game this season but failing to make any of his three field goal attempts versus Tennessee, which was his season for shots attempted.

Dillingham was spot on about Mitchell’s scoring impacting Kentucky. Mitchell has had three games in SEC play this season where he did not score in double figures, which all occurred in three of the team’s four losses in conference play so far this season.

Mitchell only had five points in Kentucky’s game prior to their Tennessee matchup, but Dillingham doesn’t expect his recent slump to last forever.

“But everybody has bad games and even if it’s not really a bad game, you’re just not in it right now, I respect it and I feel like in the future games we’re not gonna play like that for the rest of the season. So it’ll be good,” Dillingham said.

While Mitchell has been struggling scoring lately averaging 5 points per game in Kentucky’s last three games, Dillingham has caught fire, averaging 23.6 points per game in the same three-game stretch.

The true freshman has provided a much-needed spark for the Wildcats off of the bench this season as a shifty ball handler who’s been shooting at a high level. Dillingham is now Kentucky’s second-leading scorer behind Reeves averaging 15.3 points per game on 48.3% shooting from the field and in impressive 41.3% from behind the three-point line.

Versus Tennessee Dillingham shot 70% from the field and 75% from three-point range with six made shots from behind the arc. And hopefully, his elite play can translate to wins for the Wildcats soon as they visit Vanderbilt on a quick turnaround Tuesday.