FINAL: No. 5 Tennessee leads from start to finish, takes down No. 10 Kentucky 103-92

Not even 35 points from Rob Dillingham could save Kentucky in this one.

On Saturday night in Rupp Arena, No. 5 Tennessee (16-5; 6-2 SEC) never trailed against the No. 10 Kentucky Wildcats (15-6; 5-4 SEC), cruising to a 103-92 victory in front of a packed home crowd. Even without starting point guard DJ Wagner, who sat out his second straight game due to injury, UK played well enough on offense to pull out the win. But another poor defensive showing from the ‘Cats doomed them from start to finish.

Tennessee shot 48.6 percent from the floor, going 12-30 from beyond the arc against Kentucky. Despite connecting on 49.3 percent of its own looks, including a 12-27 mark from deep, UK was outrebounded 44-38 and was outscored in the paint 42-30. The ‘Cats also went 12-19 from the free-throw line.

Dillingham poured in a career-high 35 points on 14-20 shooting (6-8 3PT), but his impressive individual effort wasn’t nearly enough. Kentucky also received 21 points from Antonio Reeves and 16 more from Reed Sheppard (who fouled out down the stretch), but no other Wildcat scored more than nine. A combined 52 points from Zakai Zeigler and Josiah-Jordan James powered the Vols across the finish line.

The atmosphere inside Rupp Arena was arguably the best it had been all season in the minutes leading up to tipoff. However, Tennessee came out eager to silence the crowd and did just that. A quick 8-0 start for the Volunteers not even two minutes into the game put Kentucky into an early hole. The lead would soon balloon to 11 by the first media timeout and then to 12 a couple of minutes later.

But thank goodness for Rob Dillingham. The star freshman was on a heater, hitting back-to-back triples that kept his team alive. A third three-pointer from Dillingham cut Tennessee’s lead down to just three midway through the half. The Vols always had an answer though. Every time UK would cut the deficit to a one- or two-possession ball game, Tennessee countered.

Another sizable run from the team in orange made it a 14-point advantage with about eight minutes until the intermission. But again, Kentucky clawed its way back in — just not enough to finally take a lead. A timely shot from Reeves with under 60 seconds in the half made the score 46-42 in favor of UT going into the break.

Both sides were red-hot shooting the ball after 20 minutes of action. Kentucky was up to a 45.9 percent overall clip including an 8-17 mark from deep. Meanwhile, Tennesse shot 47.4 percent from the field and went 7-15 from long range. Dillingham led all scorers with 17 points (5-6 3PT) while Zeigler had 13 for the Vols.

To open the second half, Sheppard drilled a three-pointer that put Kentucky within one, the closest they’d been since the score was 0-0. Unfortunately, that was as tight as the game got the rest of the way. Tennessee responded with a 5-0 run and never looked back. The lead would tick back up to double-digits just a few possessions later. A skirmish that resulted in a total of four technical fouls (two on each team) didn’t come at an ideal time for the ‘Cats, either.

Kentucky was able to keep Tennessee from blowing the game wide open in the following minutes, even getting it down to a nine-point contest with 10 minutes left in the game. But a 7-0 run over the course of 80 seconds for the Vols stretched its lead back out to 16 points. UK had one more push in them though.

Capped off by a three from Sheppard, the Wildcats were able to cut down Tennessee’s lead to seven with 5:13 left in regulation, forcing the Vols to call a timeout. Kentucky stayed within striking distance until a massive shot from deep by Tennessee made it an 11-point lead with a little over two minutes to go.

Ball game. Tennessee led from the opening tip to the final buzzer. This marked the first time all season that UK has given up 100 points to an opponent.

Up next: Kentucky will hit the road to face the Vanderbilt Commodores (6-15; 1-7 SEC) on Tuesday night in Nashville. Tipoff is set for 8:30 p.m. EST on the SEC Network.