Kentucky canceled the party in Knoxville in what Calipari called a "slugfest"

The stage was set for a day of celebration in Knoxville. The Vols were hosting rival Kentucky at a time when Kentucky had fallen to new lows following back-to-back league losses at Alabama and against South Carolina in Rupp Arena. In the desert, Tennessee was a heavy betting favorite, laying 11 points in the rivalry game at tipoff. Kentucky hadn’t been that big of an underdog in any game since Billy Gillispie was the head coach. With six losses already, the Wildcats were wounded and the Vols smelled blood.

Around campus, there was a buzz up and down Phillip Fulmer Way as armies of Tennessee fans marched toward Thompson-Boling Arena for the inevitable beatdown of Kentucky. It was Chris Lofton Day in Knoxville. The Kentucky-born sharpshooter was getting his jersey retired at halftime to commemorate his All-American career at Tennessee in front of his home state school that never offered. Several of Lofton’s former college teammates were in the building to witness it all. Allan Houston, Candace Parker, Buzz Peterson, and Josh Heupel, too.

Behind one of the baskets, a Tennessee student waved a sign in the shape of Texas while “F— you, Cal!” chants rang out from the students packed into the end zones.

And everyone I just mentioned went home with an L, some even before the final buzzer sounded on Kentucky’s 63-56 win in Knoxville.

Where y’all going? pic.twitter.com/t4BUbuK8yM

— Drew Franklin (@DrewFranklinKSR) January 14, 2023

“A slugfest”

On the winning side, Kentucky head coach John Calipari was late to his postgame remarks because he had to dry off from the victory celebration in the visiting locker room. You know, the one with the 11-point underdogs in it.

When he looked back on what his team accomplished, Calipari called the game a “slugfest” in which “neither team backed down.” Not even when Kentucky fell behind early to an 8-0 Tennessee scoring run to open the game, leading Calipari to huddle his players to tell them, “We’re fine.”

High-scorer Antonio Reeves said of the environment, “The fan base out there was crazy. They was loud. We really couldn’t hear each other. But we stayed locked in. Tennessee is a very good team. They’re ranked high. We just stayed as a team and stayed focused on the floor and that’s why we got the dub.”

Calipari called Reeves the most impact player in the game. He had 18 points, four rebounds, and made all eight of his free throws.

Coming together and keeping the faith

Also from John Calipari’s postgame press conference, he revealed that his players got together without their coaches to hold each other accountable for all that held them back before the trip to Tennessee.

“They made a commitment to each other that they would fight this game and it was between them,” Calipari told the room. “Because what’s happened to this team is, guys are so engaged in their game, if they’re not playing well, they can’t play for us. Because they’re not thinking about us. Today, every guy was locked in and focused on us.”

Calipari is focused on them too as he tries to piece everything together in mid-January. At Tennessee, he was proud of Kentucky’s counterpunch on the road and how the Wildcats closed out a tight game.

“At the end of the game, I just said, look, one of you is going to have to make a play, maybe defensive, maybe rebounding, I can’t tell you. But they’re starting to make plays, now you’ve got to make a play. And the free throws at the end, that has been our Achilles’ heel, but this was a great road win.”

He added, “This is a war. We won one. We got another tough one on Tuesday and they’re playing great. But this was one that, you can get in a building like this and against a Hall of Fame coach like Rick Barnes and steal one like this, and I say steal one–you know we got down early–but you know what, I haven’t lost any faith in these guys.”

Up next, Kentucky has a flight home to Lexington to host Georgia in that “tough one on Tuesday,” while all of those Tennessee people I mentioned up top are at home wondering what went wrong against the Cats.

Celebration’s canceled in Knoxville.