Looking back at Tennessee's rivalry with Kentucky during the Rick Barnes era

Rick Barnes is looking for his 12th win over Kentucky as Tennessee’s head coach when the Vols host the Wildcats Tuesday night at Food City Center. Barnes, in his 10th season with the Vols, is 11-10 against Kentucky since taking the Tennessee job in 2015.

No. 8 Tennessee (17-3, 4-3 SEC) and No. 12 Kentucky (14-5, 3-3) are scheduled for a 7 p.m. Eastern Time start on ESPN.

The 11th win for Barnes against Kentucky was the 103-92 win at Rupp Arena in Lexington last February. Under Barnes, Tennessee is 7-1 against Kentucky teams ranked inside the Associated Press Top 10, 7-3 when both teams are ranked in the AP Top 25 and 4-1 when both teams are ranked in the top 10.

Tennessee, which has a 78-161 overall record against Kentucky in a rivalry that dates back to 1910, went 9-35 against UK in the 22 seasons (1993-2015) before Barnes arrived in Knoxville. The Vols were 7-28 when ranked and 2-21 against top-10 Kentucky teams. 

The 11 Tennessee wins over Kentucky since the 2015-16 season are the most by any team in college basketball against the Wildcats and four more than the next closest. Kansas and Auburn having six wins each against UK.

The First Win

Tennessee 84, No. 20 Kentucky 77: Kevin Punter scored a game-high 27 points, Armani Moore had 18 points and 13 rebounds and a freshman Admiral Schofield scored 15 while Tennessee rallied from down 21 points to beat Kentucky in game No. 21 of the Barnes era.

No. 4 Wins

Not only does Tennessee have seven wins over Kentucky teams ranked in the top 10, the Vols have four wins over Kentucky teams that were ranked No. 4 at the time of the game. 

Tennessee 82, No. 4 Kentucky 80 (January 24, 2017): Robert Hubbs scored 25 points and a freshman Grant Williams had 13 points, six rebounds, six assists, four blocks and three steals in Tennessee’s first win over a top-five opponent since 2010. 

No. 7 Tennessee 71, No. 4 Kentucky 52 (March 2, 2019): Jordan Bone scored 27 points, going 11-for-15 from the field including a perfect 5-for-5 from the 3-point line, and Grant Williams had 24 points and seven rebounds in the win. It was the second of three meetings with the Wildcats during the 2018-19 season.

No. 16 Tennessee 76, No. 4 Kentucky 63 (February 15, 2022): Santiago Vescoviscored 18 points, Kennedy Chandler had 17 points, six assists and five rebounds and John Fulkerson and Zakai Zeigler scored 14 each off the bench. It was the first of two wins over top-five Kentucky teams during the 2021-22 season.

The Rupp Wins

No. 15 Tennessee 61, No. 24 Kentucky 59 (February 6, 2018): Lamonte Turner hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 28 seconds left and Admiral Schofield delivered the exclamation point on a dunk with four seconds left. The game featured 17 lead changes and 13 ties as the Vols were on their way to sweeping the season series for the first time since 1999.

Tennessee 81, No. 6 Kentucky 73 (March 3, 2020): John Fulkerson scored 27 points, Josiah-Jordan James had 16, Yves Pons scored 15 and Jordan Bowden added 11 as the Vols rallied from down 17 points to stun Kentucky in Lexington. Nine days later the SEC Tournament, and then the NCAA Tournament, would be cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

No. 11 Tennessee 82, Kentucky 71 (February 6, 2021): Keon Johnson scored 27 points and Jaden Springer had 23 more to lead the Vols to the win in front of a COVID-limited capacity of 3,075 at Rupp Arena. Josiah-Jordan James had a double-double off the bench with 10 points and 10 rebounds. The Vols rallied from down 10 with 12 minutes left, going on a 12-0 run to take the lead.

No. 5 Tennessee 103, No. 10 Kentucky 92 (February 3, 2024): The Vols topped 100 points at Rupp Arena for the first time in program history and scored 100 or more for the fifth time against Kentucky thanks to 26 points from both Josiah-Jordan James and Zakai Zeigler. James added five rebounds and went 4-for-9 from the 3-point line and Zeigler had 13 assists. Dalton Knecht had 16 points, four rebounds and two assists, Santiago Vescovi had 11 points, four rebounds and two assists and Jonas Aidoo had 11 points and 11 rebounds. 

The SEC Tournament Wins

Tennessee has faced Kentucky three times in the SEC Tournament during the Barnes era, losing in the championship game in St. Louis in 2018, then beating the Wildcats in the semifinal round in 2019 in Nashville and 2022 in Tampa.  

No. 8 Tennessee 82, No. 4 Kentucky 78 (March 16, 2019): Tennessee trailed by eight points with 2:45 left, but rallied late to take down Kentucky at Bridgestone Arena. Grant Williams hit a go-ahead corner three with 1:32 left, then Lamonte Turner provided the dagger on another go-ahead three from the top of the key with 31 seconds left. Admiral Schofield scored 21 points, Williams had 20 and Jordan Bone had 18. 

No. 9 Tennessee 69, No. 5 Kentucky 62 (March 12, 2022): Kennedy Chandler had 19 points, Zakai Zeigler had 11 off the bench and Josiah-Jordan James scored 10, which was more than enough to take down an ice-cold Kentucky team that shot 2-for-20 from the 3-point line. The Vols advanced to the SEC Tournament championship for the third time in five years and would beat Texas A&M a day later to win the league tournament title for the first time since 1979.