WATCH: John Calipari recaps gutsy Kentucky win over Tennessee

“Two really good teams battled it out,” John Calipari said. And he definitely wasn’t wrong, though it was his team winning that battle in the form of a 85-81 victory over Tennessee in Knoxville.

Kentucky didn’t make life easy for itself, watching an 11-point lead with 55 seconds left fade to just three in 24 seconds, just as Calipari told Rick Barnes would happen.

“Rick and I talked last night, I said, ‘The thing about your team, it doesn’t matter what the score is. They think they’re going to win.’ Then after the game, that’s what I told him. I said, ‘I told you that.’ They’re down big and now all of a sudden they’re figuring out how to try and win. That’s a veteran team.”

But he’s got a young and talented team, one that came up with the big shots to earn that lead to begin with and fight down the stretch to grind out the win. Reed Sheppard was the star of the show with 27 points and seven made 3-pointers.

“How about those threes today that he made?” Calipari said.

He also praised Ugonna Onyenso for his clutch defensive effort while singling out Justin Edwards for his massive first half that helped Kentucky find momentum early.

And what are his thoughts on the Cats earning the double-bye in Nashville next week?

Listen to everything Coach Cal had to say after the win below: