Tennessee trolls 'haters' following 103-92 win over Kentucky

The Tennessee Volunteers came out on top on Saturday night in one of the biggest showdowns of the year in SEC basketball. They defeated the Kentucky Wildcats, 103-92. And it didn’t take the Vols long to let everyone know about it on Twitter.

The Vols Twitter page posted a picture of Josiah Jordan James and the message, “hello haters.”

hello haters. pic.twitter.com/hskafyQ7mu

— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) February 4, 2024

According to KSR’s Matt Jones, it was the first time Kentucky has given up 100 in a SEC game since 1993. Tennessee got a spectacular performance from Zakai Zeigler. He stuffed the stat sheet with 26 points and 13 assists. According to ESPN Stats & Info, He became the first Tennessee player with 25 points and 10 assists in the last 25 seasons and the second player in the last 25 seasons to do that at Rupp Arena.

Tennessee finished with five players in double figures in the win, with Zeigler and Josiah-Jordan James both pumping in 26 points. Dalton Knecht pumped in 16 points, four rebounds, two assists, and one steal.

Kentucky got big performances from Reed Sheppard, Antonio Reeves, and Rob Dillingham. Dillingham erupted for 35 points for the Wildcats, drilling 6 of 8 attempts from beyond-the-arc.

Things got heated and physical on Saturday night between the two rivals.

Tempers flared between Kentucky and No. 5 Tennessee, resulting in a shoving match that drew four technical fouls.

With Tennessee protecting a 10-point lead in the second half, Volunteers big man Tobe Awaka pulled down a rebound between a pair of Wildcats after a missed 3-pointer by Dalton Knecht. Officials blew the whistle for a reach in, stopping play.

But Kentucky’s Rob Dillingham continued to poke at the ball in Awaka’s arms. As the two bowed up to each other, Kentucky’s Aaron Bradshaw shoved Awaka in the back.

Then players from both teams had to be pulled apart by the officials before things got worse. You can view the dust-up below.

We got ACTION in Rupp 😳😳 pic.twitter.com/qSY4H3YYfT

— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) February 4, 2024

Dillingham, Bradshaw, Awaka and Tennessee’s Jordan Gainey were all assessed a technical foul. Because there were two technicals each way, they offset with play set to go on as if the brief fracas never happened.

Each of the four players were assessed a personal foul.

On3’s Thomas Goldkamp also contributed to this article.