The 107-79 loss at Kentucky sent Tennessee 'soul searching' last season and the Vols haven't been the same since

Josiah-Jordan James admittedly didn’t know a whole lot about the Tennessee-Kentucky basketball rivalry before he got to Knoxville. His first real taste of it, seeing it firsthand for himself, was March 2, 2019.

James, then a five-star prospect out of Porter-Gaud School in Charleston, S.C., was on an unofficial visit as the Vols hosted Kentucky inside a sold-out, pulsating Thompson-Boling Arena. 

Two weeks earlier, Tennessee took a No. 1 ranking and a program-record 19-game streak to Lexington, only to walk out of Rupp Arena with a deflating 86-69 loss. 

In the return meeting, with James watching courtside, Tennessee issued its response. Jordan Bone scored 27 points, going 11-for-15 from the field and 5-for-5 from the 3-point line, Grant Williams had 24 points and seven rebounds and Admiral Schofield, Jordan Bowden and Lamonte Turner combined for the other 20 points as the Vols pounded Kentucky 71-52.

“That was the craziest environment that I’ve ever seen,” James said before practice on Thursday. “I knew right then and there that this is definitely something I was excited to be a part of. And since being here the rivalry has been great. We just want to keep that tradition going.”

The rivalry renews Saturday, when No. 5 Tennessee (14-2, 4-0 SEC) hosts Kentucky (10-6, 1-3) in a Noon Eastern Time start (TV: ESPN) at Thompson-Boling Arena.

Nearly four years later, James still had two plays in his mind from the game. Schofield getting lost in the corner behind the Kentucky defense, then driving baseline and skying for a one-hand dunk. And Williams running a fastbreak and throwing a lob from midcourt to Bowden, who caught the ball above the rim and flushed it with two hands. 

“Those were the craziest two moments,” James said, “and then I think they beat them pretty handedly, so that was just awesome to see and then the celebration afterwards were just great.”

Vols looking for third straight win over Kentucky

James has had his own moments to celebrate after wins over Kentucky. There were two last season. There were back-to-back wins at Rupp Arena in 2020 and 2021. 

But it was the last trip to Kentucky, when Tennessee was blitzed 107-79 at Rupp last January, that James was asked about on Thursday.

James scored 11 points. Santiago Vescovi had 20. Kennedy Chandler scored 17. Brandon Huntely-Hatfield even had 11 off the bench. 

It didn’t matter.

Kentucky shot 67.9 percent from the field, 61.1 percent from the 3-point line and got a combined 65 points from TyTy Washington, Sahvir Wheeler and Kellan Grady. The game was never in doubt. 

“I wish y’all could have been in that film session,” James told reporters. “There was a lot of soul searching we had to do as a team. We always hang our hats on the defensive end and to let a team score 107 points is uncommon, but you have to understand that it can’t happen again, so we did a lot of soul searching.

Up Next: No. 5 Tennessee vs. Kentucky, Saturday, Noon ET, ESPN

“Coach got on us pretty heavily and we got on each other,” James continued. ”I think we just held each other accountable. We got embarrassed on national television and we told ourselves we didn’t want that to happen again.”

And it hasn’t.

Tennessee has played 20 SEC games since getting run out of Rupp. The Vols have won 19, including Kentucky’s return trip to Knoxville a month later, 76-63, and another win over the Cats in the semifinal round of the SEC Tournament in Tampa, 69-62.

They would go on to finish second in the SEC’s regular-season standings, with a 14-4 record, despite limping to a 2-3 start in league play. They won three games in three days at the SEC Tournament, winning the tournament championship for the first time since 1979. 

The 4-0 start to SEC play this season is the best since the 2018-19 team started 11-0. Tennessee hasn’t missed much since the day it seemed like Kentucky never missed.

“It is a night where they made every shot,” Rick Barnes said on Thursday. “They played great basketball. When teams are doing that, if you are not competing at the highest level, they are going to put it on you like they put it on us.”