Against all odds, Kentucky found a way to make history in season sweep vs. Tennessee

It’s hard to put into words the feeling in the room when Lamont Butler went down for Kentucky in the second half, re-aggravating the injured shoulder he said just a day before was behind him for good. He grabbed at his left arm in excruciating pain, helped up to his feet and off the floor, straight back to the locker room as Rupp Arena sat in silence. Jaxson Robinson was already out with an injured wrist on his right shooting arm, showing up with a heavy support brace and his short-term status in obvious question moving forward. Then Butler is declared out with nine minutes to go, the Wildcats up just two points against a top-five team in the country?

Every missed shot and allowed basket carried greater weight that point forward, a new level of frustration for fans in attendance in a why-can’t-we-have-nice-things sort of way. This team has already been without Kerr Kriisa since early December with Butler, Andrew Carr and now Robinson missing time. Was Travis Perry the team’s new starting point guard? Would Otega Oweh and Amari Williams split time bringing the ball up the floor? Where do you even go from here? Worrying about those questions down the road would have to come after the final buzzer. Until then, they had nine minutes to figure out how to win this game now.

If they were technically slight underdogs going in, there is no telling what the live odds looked like in that moment.

Kentucky just finds a way

Considering this team’s big-moment abilities, though, maybe they should have been heavy favorites down the stretch? Just like Duke, then Gonzaga, Florida, Mississippi State, Texas A&M and Tennessee the first time around, the Cats did it again, scraping together an unlikely victory in yet another high-profile matchup — the seventh top-15 win on the year to set the program’s all-time record, topping the six wins earned by the 2002-03 team under Tubby Smith. Down two point guards from the opening tip and three in the final minutes? No problem, Mark Pope’s group cruising to the 75-64 rivalry win to earn the season sweep for just the second time against the Volunteers under Rick Barnes.

It was a night that kind of had everything, all of the drama and storylines you could imagine that felt so much bigger than a traditional mid-week conference matchup. Snow hit Lexington earlier in the day, roads a mess getting in with traffic forcing a late-arriving crowd. Like clockwork, though, blue got in right on time, Rupp Arena filling up right at tip-off to help set the tone with the environment a top-15 matchup of this caliber deserves.

In-state heroes beat their border rivals

The fans were rewarded with not one, but two local standouts giving them something to cheer for early, Trent Noah hitting three first-half 3-pointers with Travis Perry adding one himself. The former would finish with 11 points on 3-4 shooting from deep and 2-2 at the line with two rebounds and one assist in 19 minutes while the latter added eight points on 3-4 shooting and 2-3 from three in 12 minutes — both career highs in scoring. Watching it all unfold from the crow’s nest better known as press row, I’ll be the first to tell you there are very few places on planet earth like Rupp Arena when in-state kids play well. The Harlan and Lyon County natives happened to do it together on the very same night against Kentucky’s bitter SEC border rival with Noah’s hometown closer to Knoxville than Lexington, his best two games in blue beautifully coming against the orange.

“How fun is that. How about a big, massive shout out for Eastern Kentucky showing up today.  It’s just really special,” Pope said. “… He is just built different man, he’s really special. He’s a really special player and he’s going to continue to get better.”

Ansley Almonor wins another game for the Cats

Those two helped set the tone in the first half, but no one did it bigger than Ansley Almonor in the second, scoring 11 of his 13 points in 12 minutes after the break — a perfect 4-4 shooting overall and 2-2 from three. He did the same thing in the first matchup inside Thompson-Boling Arena, banging four 3-pointers for 12 points in that upset before stepping up in the start once again with Andrew Carr still not himself coming back from injury. Don’t forget his drive and step-through and-one finish as Kentucky was scrambling to figure itself out without Butler on the floor, tying it up after falling behind by three with six minutes to go. Pope will be the first to admit Almonor has been better than anyone could have ever imagined when he joined the program out of the transfer portal this past offseason.

“Ansley Almonor — guys, come on. I know I told you all that he was going to win some games for us before the season, but I didn’t even expect he would win us this many,” Pope said. “I honestly did not recruit him to be a downhill, Euro-step-through-contact finisher in the crucial moment of the game against the best defensive team in the country, but he did it. He’s been so good.”

Don’t take Otega Oweh’s consistency for granted

Otega Oweh’s consistency can’t be taken for granted, either, finishing in double figures for a 24th consecutive game — the only player in the SEC and one of 12 Division I players to hit that mark every time out. He had 13 points in this one on 4-13 shooting while adding six rebounds, two assists and two blocks in 31 minutes. After a wiped goaltend inexplicably took two points off the board for him at halftime, it was actually his alley-oop slam to cave the Rupp Arena roof in putting the Cats up eight with 1:20 to go that gave him double digits. He would add three free throws to close things out, but there is something inevitable about the junior guard, Kentucky knowing exactly what it’s going to get out of Oweh every time he takes the floor. That’s so valuable for a team that can’t seem to shake the injury bug, his production essentially a given as other players take turns stepping up. He makes something unbelievably difficult look way too easy and we love him for it.

Koby Brea leads the biggest stretch

How about Koby Brea playing his best basketball as a Wildcat, too? Coming off a career-high six assists against South Carolina while showing off some newfound defensive confidence, the fifth-year guard did what he does best once again by hitting some massive shots, the first to turn a two-point deficit into a one-point lead with 4:21 to go — the last time Tennessee would hold a lead the rest of the way. Then with the Cats up just three with 2:32 on the clock, Brea went one-on-one for a step back three from the top of the key to go up six with 2:08 remaining. He was also the lob-thrower on Oweh’s alley-oop to go up eight just a few seconds later, arguably the biggest stretch of the game.

A defensive breakthrough?

One of the worst defensive teams in the country on the year, Kentucky has also put together its two best performances of the year on that end of the floor — certainly against high-major competition. The intensity and urgency that was missing against Arkansas and Ole Miss presented itself against the Gamecocks and Volunteers in a span of three days. UT was an abysmal 16.7 percent from three once again and 42.6 percent overall with Chaz Lanier (0-7), Jordan Gainey (0-4) and Zakai Zeigler (0-2) combining to go 0-13 from deep with Igor Milicic the only opposing player to hit a 3-pointer. On the flip side, Tennessee boasts the nation’s best 3-point defense overall, but has allowed Kentucky to shoot 24-48 for 50.0 percent from deep through two games compared to just 154-599 for 25.7 percent for other opponents.

Celebrating history

The theme? It was an all-in effort to pull this one off, backs against the wall with the team coming before any individual. There wasn’t one player trying to take the game over out of desperation or panic, only a next-man-up mentality as they collectively tried to get across the finish line together. Improbable, maybe, but a lot of what Kentucky has been able to do this season is improbable. That’s what makes this group special and so easy to cheer for as the top-15 wins stack up in historic fashion.

We’ll worry about the injuries with the postseason just seven games away the rest of the week. Tonight, though, we celebrate this team’s ability to overcome adversity and pull off the season sweep in a rivalry that means everything to the most passionate fanbase in college basketball.