Kentucky silences Rocky Top: KSR's takeaways from a shorthanded masterpiece in Knoxville

There is just something to be said about playing with house money. Not a single soul thought Kentucky was going to go down to Knoxville and beat Tennessee. Coming off back-to-back losses, injuries tearing apart the roster, taking on the top-ranked defense in college basketball known for terrorizing even the best offenses — let alone one missing two starters. Where would the points come from? How would the Cats even get the ball up the floor? They’ve lost all four games away from home when they haven’t hit the 70-point mark and they were set to take on a team allowing just 58.4 per game.

The math just didn’t add up with rock fights being this team’s kryptonite even before the bumps and bruises stacked up. That’s how you hit the road as a double-digit underdog, looking a three-game losing streak in the face before Coach Cal comes to town desperate for a told-you-so back in Lexington. It was a nightmare scenario no fan wanted to experience, whether they were willing to admit it or not.

Then, against all odds, riding the wave of internal belief in a sea of external doubt, Kentucky clawed its way to a 78-73 upset victory inside Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center.

The crowd tried to will the Volunteers to victory, bitter and venomous to Kentucky fans walking by — that would be me, rocking blue and white in a sea of orange — cheers loud enough to pop an eardrum from the opening tip. The Wildcats filtered some of that out by making big shots and holding the momentum early and often, carrying a lead for 35:20 out of 40 total minutes, but it was a difficult environment that really ramped up in the key moments and opportunities to flip.

The Cats simply rose to the occasion, just as they have all season against the best of the best.

Another top-15 win in a building that’s been good to the Cats

Kentucky had already racked up wins over No. 6 Duke, No. 7 Gonzaga, No. 6 Florida, No. 14 Mississippi State and No. 11 Texas A&M up to this point, and now, the victory at No. 8 Tennessee gives Mark Pope six top-15 wins in his first season with the Wildcats. That ties the all-time program record set by the 2002-03 team, which earned six over the course of the entire season. As things stand today, this group still has three more opportunities to break that record with five ranked opponents in total.

This matchup is different, though. It’s a rivalry with genuine hatred between the two schools, one owned by Kentucky as of late — specifically in Knoxville. With a win on Tuesday, the Wildcats have won three straight inside TBA and five of the last six.

Scraping together the shorthanded upset

It’s not even necessarily the win itself but rather how the win was put together that made it special. Kerr Kriisa has been out since December 7 while Lamont Butler was declared out with a shoulder injury the night before the matchup — both lead guards. Andrew Carr was available to play with a back issue, but it became clear almost immediately he wasn’t quite ready to go, playing just 89 total seconds. That left seven players averaging at least 10.0 minutes per game available, plus whatever Travis Perry, Trent Noah and Collin Chandler could give you.

At point guard? You saw Jaxson Robinson bring the ball up the court, then Otega Oweh and Koby Brea, then Amari Williams, then Perry and Chandler, plus an occasional run from Brandon Garrison. It was an all-in effort initiating the offense. In Carr’s place at power forward? Ansley Almonor went nuclear once again from three while Trent Noah came up huge, too.

Some players were better than others, but everyone contributed in some form or fashion to put together the gutsy performance. It was all hands on deck in Knoxville with the Cats pulling off the by-committee win. Just think, the leading scorers in a top-10 victory at Tennessee came from Dayton, BYU, Oklahoma, Fairleigh Dickinson and Drexel, in that order, while the key bench standouts either competed in the KHSAA state championship game or are coming off a two-year mission trip without playing competitive basketball.

Avoiding a late collapse

They did it after following a nearly identical script as the head-scratching loss at Vanderbilt on Saturday. Kentucky gave up a late first-half run to head into the break trailing, followed by a response to open the second to retake the lead. Where things went wrong in Nashville, though, came in the final two segments of the game with the Cats turning a seven-point lead into a five-point loss. This time around, Tennessee went on an 11-0 run to close out the half, only to watch Kentucky go up eight with 14 minutes to go — a quicker comeback, sure, but also a longer runway to give it away — before it got to nine with 8:03 left on the clock.

Could the Vols follow in their in-state counterpart’s footsteps? They certainly tried and the Cats gave them plenty of opportunities, missing free throws late (15-22 2H, 16-24 overall) and allowing offensive rebound after offensive rebound (10 2H, 18 overall) to keep hope alive. UK had a million opportunities to not only put it away, but potentially cruise to a comfortable double-digit win.

In fact, Kentucky didn’t score a single field goal in the final 5:20, allowing Tennessee to come back from down eight (5:20) to one (:31). That led to four straight free throws from Oweh to ice the win in the last 30 seconds. Job done — it just couldn’t be easy.

Two shooting extremes

Tennessee got 20 second-chance points off of those 18 offensive rebounds, but the damage could’ve been much worse. While the Cats failed to score beyond free throws in the last 5:20, the Vols missed 12 3-pointers in that span while hitting just two. It was a disastrous shooting day for the home team, finishing with 11 makes on a whopping 45 attempts, good for just 24.4 percent from deep. The two stars were the worst for UT, Zakai Zeigler going a laughable 1-11 from three while Chaz Lanier went 3-10 for a combined 4-21. Their 11 makes include four from Igor Milicic, who came in shooting just 25.8 percent from three. Everyone else was awful.

As for Kentucky, the volume was once again low, but the efficiency was downright ridiculous, finishing an impressive 12-24 on the day with three players hitting multiple 3-pointers. Robinson (4-9) and Almonor (4-7) had four apiece while Koby Brea (3-3) had three — plus one top-of-the-key bomb from the Mountain Mamba himself, Trent Noah (1-1).

The Cats’ 4-5 start from three and quick 12-4 helped set the tone the rest of the way.

Happy Birthday, Amari Williams!

Turning 23 years young on Tuesday, the Drexel transfer became just the fifth player in Kentucky history to earn a top-10 win on their birthday. Not a bad present, huh?

Williams joins Bobby Watson (21 in 1951), Wayne Turner (21 in 1997, 22 in 1998), Saul Smith (22 in 1998) and Justin Edwards (20 in 2023) as the only Wildcats to come out on top against top-10 competition. He did it in a big way, too, finishing with 10 points (3-5 FG, 4-6 FT), 15 rebounds and four assists in just 24 minutes, leading the team with a plus-20. ‘

Nothing matters more, though, than his impact at point guard, bringing the ball up the floor and initiating the offense with Butler out. When Pope talked about the position after the game and how the team scrambled to replace its prized starter, he made it clear what was on his mind.

“Let me start with Amari,” he said. “Amari Williams is a one of one. I’m asking him to do an impossible job right now. Come into this gym, sold out. What are they ranked? Five? Something, I don’t know. Top 10 team. The number one defense in the country. No point guard to be found on our roster. And I’m like Amari it’s up to you”

Koby Brea finally gets back on track

Brea had finished in single-figures in four of the last games with 10 points vs. Alabama being the lone outlier. He went 2-10 at Georgia for six points, 1-6 at Mississippi State for three, 1-5 vs. Texas A&M and 1-5 at Vanderbilt — seven total makes from three on 26 attempts. There wasn’t a ton of long-term concern about it, but fans hoped to see him break out of his cold spell sooner rather than later, knowing a flame-throwing effort was on the horizon.

Tennessee was a good opportunity, knowing the Cats were shorthanded and in desperate need of scoring and shooting help. That led to arguably his most efficient performance of his career, going for a team-high 18 points on a perfect 5-5 shooting and 3-3 from three with three rebounds, three assists, one block and one steal.

“We hadn’t spent zero seconds thinking about it. It’s about great shooters and great shooters shoot and make shots,” Pope said of Brea. “I think he’s arguably the best shooter in basketball. My gosh, he made hard shots tonight.”

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Kentucky needed to respond after back-to-back losses, the program’s first losing streak under Mark Pope. The resume has always been strong, but you can’t let momentum get away from you in this league if you want to stay in that top tier alongside other contenders. Instead of letting two turn to three, the Cats left Knoxville with arguably their most impressive win of the season.