Kentucky wore its heart on its sleeve in another stunning win over Tennessee

Add Tuesday night to the growing list of moments this Kentucky team has stunned me. The 75-64 victory over the Vols completes a regular-series sweep and is the seventh over an AP Top 15 team in school history, a new school record. The Wildcats now own more wins over AP Top 10 teams (five) than any program in Division I. And yet, here I am once again, smiling and shaking my head, wondering how in the world they got it done.

Let’s start with the fact that Mark Pope assembled this team, the one that’s been slaying Kentucky’s rivals all season, in a matter of weeks. The only player that was highly regarded as a recruit was Brandon Garrison. The rest came from various reaches of Division I, most from far beyond the Power Four conferences, and the high school ranks, all gambling on Pope’s unique system in what was widely expected to be a rebuilding year. Mark Pope’s team is not the most talented in a historically strong SEC. It is not the most athletic. However, it might have the most of a thing you cannot measure: heart.

As erratic as this team has been, a pattern has developed: almost every loss has been offset by an equally impressive win. Kentucky’s win over Duke was a fairy-tale start to the season. After losing at Clemson, the Cats rebounded with another comeback win vs. Gonzaga in Seattle. The loss to Ohio State may have been the most jarring but was forgiven two weeks later with a win over No. 6 Florida in Rupp. Kentucky made up for the losses to Alabama and Vanderbilt with an incredibly improbable victory at Tennessee as an 11.5-point underdog. The emotional weight of the loss to Arkansas will be hard to erase, but man, the joy in Rupp Arena tonight when Kentucky beat No. 5 Tennessee for a second time to complete the sweep at least has Big Blue Nation off the floor and excited again.

The way it unfolded makes it all the more compelling. Injuries have plagued Kentucky for over a month. Kentucky was able to beat Tennessee two weeks ago without Lamont Butler. The Cats had Butler back tonight, but Jaxson Robinson, one of the most dependable scorers, was a scratch due to the wrist injury he suffered in practice last week. Against the nation’s top defense, points had to come from somewhere. From the start, the Cats set the tone, with Butler getting a steal and score on the first possession, the energy from which almost blew the roof off Rupp Arena. Mark Pope admitted he didn’t even see Butler’s layup because he was distracted by Otega Oweh’s celebration.

“My eyes were drawn to Otega Oweh. I thought he was going to run up in the crowd and body surf he was so excited about the defensive play.”

Unexpected heroes stepped up, with Trent Noah and Travis Perry making key plays against their border state en route to career highs. Two Kentucky kids lighting it up vs. Tennessee? It was all going so well that when Lamont Butler lunged for a ball and crashed to the court, re-aggravating his injured shoulder with 8:40 left, it felt like the clock had struck midnight. After sitting up and grabbing his shoulder in pain, Butler thumped his fist on the court in frustration, the final chime.

Except it wasn’t. Tennessee did take the lead, but the Cats banded together to get it back. Koby Brea came alive from the three-point line. Ansley Almonor had a crucial and-one, a move that caught Pope off guard. Otega Oweh muscled his way to the basket and free-throw line. Even Andrew Carr, who struggled most of the game, made big plays down the stretch to help seal the victory, another very big one on Kentucky’s resume. Butler and Robinson’s status remains very much in question — Pope seemed more optimistic about Butler than Robinson after the game — but after watching this team find a way to win again, how can you not believe in miracles?

I bet Mark Pope does. When Tom Leach asked him what the locker room was like after the win during his postgame radio show, Pope just smiled and looked up at the crowd, choosing instead to focus on a communal moment.

“It was fun,” he said. “I’ll tell you this and I hope you guys felt it. You guys actually kind of made it, but you have moments — we’ve had a lot of them this year, and I never take it for granted, but that that entire game from start to finish, and especially the last 10 minutes without Lamont, without Jax, without Kerr, for our guys to step up and just find a way to do it and be bold and brave and to do it against the best defensive team in the country, it was really special.

“It was a special moment. I love these special moments in Rupp Arena. I love that all 20,500-plus of us get to celebrate these moments together, guys. It’s just brilliant and beautiful.”

As this season has shown us, the road ahead will be bumpy, but the highs continue to be well worth the lows.