Almonor: Tennessee Win Showed Kentucky has the Toughness to Win in March

You name it, Kentucky was dealing with it Tuesday night. The Wildcats were facing the top-ranked defense in America on the road in a rivalry game with three players on the sideline.

The degree of difficulty was about as tough as it gets and it wasn’t a problem for these Cats. Kentucky shot 50% from the field and scored 78 points against the Vols, the most points Tennessee had allowed all season, in a five-point win at the Food City Center.

Ansley Almonor knew he would start in his second straight game, but Andrew Carr was expected to play a few minutes. He only logged two. Kentucky was without its top two point guards, Lamont Butler and Kerr Kriisa, but the Cats had confidence in Jaxson Robinson after he handled the rock in the overtime win over Gonzaga.

“We tried to come in locked in. We know Jaxson can play point guard too. He was up for the task today. We had to prepare for the game and the gameplan worked,” Almonor told the Field of 68.

Kentucky dared Tennessee to shoot long threes. It led to long rebounds. Tennessee grabbed 18 offensive boards, seven of them in the final four minutes. Rebounding woes cost Kentucky a win at Georgia. They heard the criticism from that loss and were prepared to prove the naysayers wrong.

“It shows how tough we are. A lot of people out there were saying we were a soft team. We heard all the noise. We took it and turned it into motivation. We got guys from 1-14 who can play at this level. That’s how Coach (Pope) built this roster and we went out there and showed it today,” said Almonor.

Almonor made four three-pointers in the seventh Quad 1 win of the season for the Cats. Almost every game in league play is a Quad 1 game, excluding Saturday’s highly-anticipated matchup against Arkansas. Kentucky continues to pass challenging tests in the SEC, which should pay dividends in the postseason.

“It’s the toughest league in America right now, but Coach built this roster knowing what it was going to be like,” said Almonor. “We got great players, great coaches, and we go out there and fight every day to get better so that when it comes to March, we’ll be ready to go.”

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