Five takeaways from Kentucky's win in Knoxville to wrap up the regular season and SEC double-bye

For a second straight season, Kentucky went to Tennessee as a heavy underdog against the Vols, only to spoil all of the fun in Knoxville with a victory in the rivalry game. This year, Kentucky fought off a late charge to win the regular season finale, 85-81–a game with significant implications for the Wildcats’ postseason and morale. As we celebrate another road W against our enemies to the south, here are five broad takeaways from the win as we head into the Madness.

This team might give us all heart attacks.

We should dub this team the Heart Attack Cats because, once again, they nearly gave away a game with late mistakes. In this most recent comedy of errors, Kentucky led by 11 with under a minute to go when the wheels fell off. It began when Tennessee’s Zakai Zeigler hit a 3-pointer to give the Vols life, then the Wildcats turned the ball over THREE TIMES IN TWENTY-FIVE SECONDS, opening the door wide open for the Vols. With 17 seconds to go, that 11-point lead had turned into Zeigler shooting a wide-open 3 to tie the game potentially. Luckily, he missed, and the Wildcats held on to win. It did not need to be that close.

An extra day off in Nashville

By beating the SEC’s regular-season champ on their own floor, Kentucky escaped playing an additional game in Nashville, earning a double-bye into Friday at next week’s SEC Tournament. Now, the Wildcats need only two wins in Nashville to reach the school’s first Sunday game since 2018; currently, the longest drought in UK history. Let’s go win it.

(Kentucky needs Auburn to win Saturday night to give Kentucky the No. 2 seed in the SEC Tournament. An Auburn loss means the No. 3 seed for Kentucky.)

NCAA 3-seed in play

Tennessee probably lost its shot at a No. 1 seed by losing to Kentucky on Senior Day. Until the loss, Vols fans were excited about the potential of a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament because Tennessee’s never had one. Sorry?

For Kentucky’s purposes, Joe Lunardi ranked the ‘Cats as the No. 13 overall seed and the top No. 4 seed before Saturday’s win, so he will likely move Kentucky onto its No. 3 seed line in his next update. A run in Nashville should be enough to secure a spot as a No. 3 seed in the Big Dance. Kentucky was a projected No. 6 seed in the same Bracketology in late February before the recent hot finish.

One of the hottest teams in the country

It wasn’t all that long ago when Kentucky set a new low for the longest losing streak in Rupp Arena, battling a slew of injuries throughout the roster. Now, they’re one of the hottest teams in the country, riding a five-game win streak into March Madness. If not for the circus shot in Baton Rouge that cost Kentucky the game at LSU two and a half weeks ago, the Wildcats would be on an eight-game win streak. Still, they’ve won eight of nine SEC games and finished the regular season with the best win of the year, beating the fourth-ranked Vols in Knoxville.

I like my team.

They’re built for March, right? Well, March is here with two win-or-go-home tournaments to write their story. Finally, the entire roster is available, and everybody who needed one had their breakout game or moment without getting left behind. Justin Edwards arrived. Big Z, too. DJ Wagner found his shot. John Calipari found his rotation. Now, it’s time to see if they have what it takes to be Kentucky good in March. I don’t know what will happen, and they’ve shown us it can be anything, but I know I like my team.

Go Cats. March is here. Let’s go win nine straight games.