Kentucky has found winning recipe in recent trips to Tennessee

After the 2014-15 basketball season, Tennessee decided to make a change. Once Cuonzo Martin bolted for the job at California, former Texas head coach Rick Barnes was named the new man in charge for the Volunteers. Catching Kentucky became the top goal.

Barnes is now in year seven on Rocky Top, and Tennessee has won 64.1 percent of their games with the 67-year-old coach on the sidelines. The Vols brought home an SEC title in 2018 and own a 3-3 record in six NCAA Tournament games. Through this rise, beating Kentucky consistently has helped the Vols open up doors.

Tennessee owns three wins in Rupp Arena under Barnes, but where the Vols really made their mark is at Thompson-Boling Arena. In 2016, the Vols erased a 21-point deficit in an 84-77 upset and the first big victory for Barnes at UT. In 2018, 10-9 Tennessee held on for a huge win over No. 5 Kentucky. As Tennessee won 57 total games in both 2018 and 2019, the Vols beat Kentucky by double-digits at home in two meetings.

Through the rebuild, Barnes has been able to consistently beat Kentucky. However, that has changed in the last two seasons. Tennessee picked up wins in Rupp Arena in both 2020 and 2021, but the Wildcats have found the winning formula in Thompson-Boling Arena.

Balanced scoring

In Kentucky’s 77-64 win over the Vols in 2020, Nick Richards paced the team with 15 points on five shot attempts, but the junior big received a ton of help. Five players finished the game with at least 10 points, and Kentucky got a surprise contribution from Johnny Juzang off the bench. Tennessee had three players in double-digits but got just 12 points from the rest of the team.

The next season, a 7-13 Kentucky team went on the road and defeated No. 19 Tennessee by 15 points. Isaiah Jackson led the way with 16 points on 10 field goal attempts, but the Wildcats also got 15 points from Davion Mintz and 20 combined points from Keion Brooks Jr. and Olivier Sarr.

Scoring depth has been key in recent matchups on the road against the Vols. The best thing this current Kentucky team does is hurt you from scoring at all three levels with every position on the floor.

Fast start

In this year’s first meeting, Kentucky got off to a blistering start that set the table for the 107-79 win on Jan. 15. Kentucky has used a similar blueprint in the last two games at Thompson-Boling Arena.

In 2020, Kentucky built a 15-11 lead in the first 10 minutes of the game. In 2021, Kentucky built a 23-10 lead in the first 10 minutes of the game. Those fast starts set the pace of the game and allowed the Wildcats to control things in a setting away from home.

Kentucky will look to repeat that result on Tuesday night.

Overall series history

No one team has beaten Kentucky more than Tennessee, but the Vols have needed many swings at the plate as the series count currently stands at 158-75 in favor of the Wildcats. All-time, Kentucky has won 67.8 percent of the matchups, but in recent years the Vols have given the SEC’s blue blood some more issues.

Cal sits at 16-10 in his career against the Vols with a .615 winning percentage. Since the arrival of Rick Barnes, Kentucky is just 7-8 against Tennessee. The Wildcats are looking to get a tighter grip on this rivalry by completing a series sweep for the first time since 2012. Consistently winning at Thompson-Boling Arena will allow more dominance in the series.

The Wildcats will look to follow their winning blueprint in 2022.