John Calipari says Tennessee was "more desperate" to win than Kentucky

After getting run out of Lexington to the tune of a 28-point defeat, it was expected that the Tennessee Volunteers would be out for revenge on Tuesday night with Kentucky in town. That January loss was personal to those players and coaches, which lit a fire under the entire team heading into the rematch at Thompson-Boling Arena. Revenge was clearly on the Vols’ mind, but the shocking part was how it appeared that Kentucky wasn’t prepared for it.

In a game that never felt as close as the score often indicated, Tennessee borderline embarrassed the No. 4 team in the country, winning comfortably by a final score of 76-63. Kentucky never established a rhythm, shrunk under the pressure of UT’s physicality, and watched as TyTy Washington suffered another untimely injury. The Volunteers played like a team on a mission while Kentucky looked like a team trying not to make mistakes.

“They were desperate, Tennessee. More desperate than we were,” UK head coach John Calipari said during his weekly radio call-in show. “The game got really physical. We didn’t respond. And they made some great plays, they made some baskets.”

There was one stretch in particular, however, where Calipari thought his team had a chance to truly make this a game. So much so that he thought UK was going to come all the way back and steal the win.

With 13:41 remaining in the contest, Kentucky trimmed the Tennessee lead down to eight points for the first of two times in the half — the closest the ‘Cats would get the rest of the way. But poor rebounding efforts (with Oscar Tshiebwe notably on the bench) and sluggish transition defense allowed the Vols to punch right back. When UK got it back down to eight again at the 11:24 mark, the momentum was beginning to shift.

But when push came to shove, Tennessee simply wanted it more than Kentucky. The Vols stepped up and made multiple big shots.

“I was mad,” Calipari added. “We got it to eight and I thought Sahvir (Wheeler) made a bad decision going to the rim and then I watched the play — and he made the right play. Someone else made the wrong play. Big rebound, they miss, eight-point game. I thought we’re gonna win the game. We’re gonna win this. And we go after a ball with one hand. You never bring those in, which we didn’t. They grab it, lay it in. We make a mistake. All of a sudden you turn around. It’s 12 — or it was a (3-pointer) — 13 again; takes the wind out of your sails.”

With that big lead, Tennessee wouldn’t look back. The Vols stayed ahead by double-digits the rest of the way, ballooning the advantage to as many as 20 before settling on the 13-point victory.