Rick Barnes: John Calipari will 'have this team ready' when Kentucky comes to Tennessee on Saturday

The same South Carolina team that Tennessee beat 85-42 on Saturday at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia went to Kentucky Tuesday night and stunned the Wildcats, winning 71-68. The Gamecocks entered the game as 19-point underdogs. Kentucky entered having won 28 games in a row at Rupp Arena.

GG Jackson, the five-star freshman who went scoreless against Tennessee, going 0-for-8 from the field with four turnovers in a season-low 22 minutes, scored 16 points and grabbed three rebounds in 35 minutes in Lexington. 

Guard Meechie Johnson, who led the Gamecocks with 19 points in the 43-point home loss to Tennessee, stayed hot with 26 points at Kentucky, going 6-for-10 from the 3-point line.

But none of that matters to Tennessee coach Rick Barnes.

“I know that a couple years ago,” Barnes said Saturday night, after his team beat Vanderbilt 77-68 at Thompson-Boling Arena, “we went up and had a good win up there and they came in here and just owned us. Just did what they wanted to do. Had a huge win against us.”

No. 5 Tennessee (14-2, 4-0 SEC) gave up 39 points in the first half against Vanderbilt (8-8, 1-2) on Tuesday, the most the Vols have given up before halftime this season. Vandy led by two at the break, before Tennessee started the second half on a 9-0 run, on its way to building what was as much as a 17-point lead.

Rick Barnes looking for 11th win over Kentucky as head coach of the Vols

Now the attention turns to unranked Kentucky (10-6, 1-3), which limps into Knoxville after consecutive losses to South Carolina and at Alabama. The Crimson Tide beat the Cats 78-52, holding Kentucky to the lowest point total durning the John Calipari era.

Kentucky lost at Missouri by 14 on December 28, lost to UCLA on a neutral floor on December 17, lost by 16 at Gonzaga on November 20 and by nine to Michigan State in the Champions Classic on November 15.

But Barnes still wasn’t taking the bait on any of that Tuesday night. After spending some time bragging on how good of a coach Vanderbilt’s Jerry Stackhouse is, he did the same with Calipari. 

“I’ll say the same about John Calipari’s teams,” Barnes said, “they’re going to get better. They’re going to keep getting better.”

Barnes is 10-7 as Tennessee’s head coach against Kentucky, beating the Cats five times in Knoxville (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022), three times at Rupp (2018, 2020 and 2021) and twice in the SEC Tournament (2019, 2022).

The win at Rupp and the loss at Thompson-Boling referenced by Barnes Tuesday night was during the COVID season, when the Vols won 81-73 in Lexington, only to see Kentucky come to Knoxville two weeks later and win 70-55.

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

“I didn’t see the (South Carolina) game,” Barnes said. “I don’t know what happened there and I know (Kentucky has) dealt with some injuries too. Someone did tell me that Cason Wallace did get hurt tonight. Which I don’t know, somebody said that to me. 

“The fact is, I have so much respect for John. I’ve known him for a lifetime in this business, he’ll have this team ready. I think our guys certainly know that.”

Wallace, the five-star freshman guard, played just eight minutes before leaving with what was reported as a lower-back issue. He was prioritized by Tennessee for years during the recruiting process, before picking Kentucky over the Vols. 

Julian Phillips, Tennessee’s five-star freshman wing, had 15 points, six rebounds and three assists in 28 minutes against Vanderbilt Tuesday.

“I didn’t know much coming in,” Phillips said of the Tennessee-Kentucky basketball rivalry, “but now I know it’s always a fun game as I expected. They’re a really good team, so yeah, I know it’s going to be a high-level game.”