The Tennessee-Kentucky basketball rivalry has looked different during the Rick Barnes era

The Tennessee-Kentucky basketball rivalry took a turn on March 31, 2015. The two teams didn’t play that day, but the Vols did hire Rick Barnes.

Barnes had just parted ways with Texas after 17 years as the head coach of the Longhorns and the Vols were hiring their third coach in as many years. 

Barnes took then-Tennessee athletic director Dave Hart up on his job offer in part because of Kentucky head coach John Calipari, a longtime and trusted friend of Barnes.

“I said take that job,” Calipari said back in 2016. “That’s one of the best jobs … I said ‘You can recruit there. You’re going to have everything you need there. It has an unbelievable following. You just have to win.’”

“I trust him to know that he would not tell me anything he didn’t believe,” Barnes said at the time. “He wouldn’t just say it to say it. His exact words were that he thought it’s one of the best jobs in this league and (Tennessee) can be as good as anybody.”

Barnes has won games. Just over midway through his ninth season at Tennessee, he’s sitting on 190 wins with the Vols. 

And he’s won games against rival Kentucky, too, with a 10-9 record against Calipari’s Wildcats during his time at Tennessee. 

“We talk about rivalries,” Barnes said Friday, “but I said this when I came to Tennessee, if one team doesn’t win, it’s not much of a rivalry. So you’ve got to win some games.”

The rivalry renews when No. 5 Tennessee (15-5, 5-2 SEC) goes to No. 10 Kentucky (15-5, 5-3) for Saturday night’s game (8:30 Eastern Time, TV: ESPN) at Rupp Arena.

Barnes has led the Vols to three wins at Rupp Arena — 2018, 2020 and 2021 — after the program had won there just four times since the arena opened in November 1976.

Tennessee has five home wins over Kentucky during the Barnes era and two more in the SEC Tournament. But that’s just where the numbers begin.

Under Barnes the Vols are a staggering 6-1 against Kentucky teams ranked inside the Associated Press top 10. They’re 6-2 when both teams are ranked in the AP Top 25 and 3-1 when both teams are ranked in the top 10.

Tennessee, which has a 77-160 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 10 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.

“We’ve been fortunate,” Barnes said, “we’ve had some good teams. We’ve gone in with some good teams. As you know, every game takes on its own personality.”

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 Rick Barnes era.

No. 4 Wins

Not only does Tennessee have six 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 Vescovi scored 18 points, Kennedy Chandlery 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, Tennessee 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.

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.