Mark Pope put on a coaching masterclass in No. 15 Kentucky’s (17-7, 6-5 SEC) 75-64 win over No. 5 Tennessee (20-5, 7-5 SEC) Tuesday night at Rupp Arena. No Jaxson Robinson, Lamont Butler leaves the game after re-aggravating his left shoulder with 8:40 left in the second half and the Wildcats close the game on a 17-4 run over the final 4:21 of the game.
“It was really great to be a part of this epic game tonight,” Pope said. “It was awesome. I’m so proud of our guys. We have guys that just want to fight and compete. We’ve got ballers, right?”
Bluegrass Freshman combo steps up
The ballers on Tuesday night were Freshman Travis Perry and Trent Noah, both from the Bluegrass State. Combining for 19 points on Tuesday night, the two Freshman also combined for five three-pointers. Noah, in particular, hit three three-pointers and two clutch free-throws with 2:41 to go to give the Wildcats a five-point lead, part of an 11-point night for the Harlan, Kentucky native.
Noah grew up close to the Tennessee border and knows the Kentucky-Tennessee well, which makes his performance Tuesday night even more meaningful for him and impressive for Kentucky and Big Blue Nation.
“It’s amazing, definitely one of the most fun games on the schedule,” Harlan said. “There’s nothing like it growing up, watching them go down in my living room and then crying when they lose and so happy when they win. Being able to be a part of it is so cool.”
With Robinson and Butler out potentially beyond Tuesday night’s game, combined with Kerr Kriisa still out with a broken foot sustained back in early December, Perry and Noah are likely to continue to see increased minutes. Tuesday night showed that both Perry and Noah can embrace increased roles and be key contributors in Kentucky winning games against top fie opponents. They are both Freshman and key reasons why Kentucky now owns a regular-season sweep over Tennessee this season.
Perry and Noah are just further examples of how this Kentucky team continues to find ways to win, the sum being greater than the parts and Mark Pope trusting his younger players to step up in marquee games.
“Every single guy on our roster that could play tonight made important plays. I like Kentucky being that way,” Pope said. “I actually love it. It feels right to me. Maybe it is because of how we were when I played here. Maybe it’s because of what I know. Maybe it’s because it’s how the state of Kentucky works, this community works. But I dig it man. I think it’s a good representation of where we are in the state.”
Three-point shooting lifts Kentucky again over Tennessee
Kentucky carbon copied their three-point shooting against Tennessee from when they beat the Volunteers in Knoxville on January 28th. The Wildcats were 12-24 from three-point range in that game, and they were exactly 12-24 in Tuesday night’s win. Not to mention, just as they were on January 28th, Kentucky shot 50% overall from the field on Tuesday night.
Whereas Kentucky was efficient and lights out from three-point range again against Tennessee on Tuesday night, the Volunteers struggled. Tennessee shot just 42.6% from the field and just 3-18 from three-point range. The Volunteers were 11-45 from three-point range against Kentucky two weeks ago, so their gameplan involved not taking nearly as many three-pointers and getting to the rim. Still, though, 3-18 from three-point range was worse than 11-45 in terms of percentage.
“You know, it’s such a small sample size. It’s just two games. But our guys, you know, they understand what a challenge it is going against this Tennessee team,” Pope said. “It’s a great defensive team. No two ways about it. They’re great. I think our guys look forward to the challenge. We had some guys that made some big plays.”
After making four threes against Tennessee two weeks ago, Ansley Almonor had two threes on Tuesday night in tying for the team lead with 13 points. It was his three-point play, though, with 5:59 to go, that tied the game at 58-58 and stopped a 9-1 Tennessee run.
“I just felt like that was, you know, we needed a bucket at that time, so I got a little bit creative,” Almonor said. “We are all basketball players, so it’s in our game, or something like that.”
Koby Brea, who led the nation in three-point field goal percentage last year with the Dayton Flyers at 49.8 percent, hit two key three-pointers in the last 4:21 of the game to help Kentucky close the game on a 17-6 run.
“Honestly there wasn’t much thinking going on it was just playing the game; understanding the situation that we were in, what we needed,” Pope said. “I just felt like I have confidence in myself, and I feel like the team has confidence in me too. I can take those shots and make those shots.”
Looking ahead
Kentucky now heads to Austin, Texas on Saturday night (8 E.T., ESPN) to take on the Texas Longhorns (15-10, 4-8 SEC) It will be the first time the two teams will meet as SEC members, and it’s also just the third time ever Kentucky and Texas are meeting.
Kentucky won the last game against Texas, at Rupp Arena on December 5, 2014, 63-51 on the backs of a double-double by Willie Cauley-Stein (21 pts, 12 rebs). Kentucky also forced 22 turnovers in that game and outscored the Longhorns 37-25 in the second half, after the game was tied 26-26 at halftime.
The only other time Kentucky and Texas played was December 21, 1993 at the Maui Classic Invitational. It was a Quarterfinals Game won by Kentucky 86-61, and Kentucky would go on to defeat Ohio State and Arizona to win the event. Jared Prickett had a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds, while Travis Ford led the way eight assists.
This year’s Texas team has struggled in their first season in the SEC, and they’re coming off a 103-80 loss to No. 2 Alabama on Tuesday night. The Longhorns are on a three-game losing streak, but they have wins over Texas A&M and Missouri this season. They’re a solid team, and they will give Kentucky a battle for 40 minutes. Texas is playing for to stay in at-large contention for an NCAA Tournament bid, so they will be coming out with a high sense of urgency. Kentucky being able to match that will go a long way towards determining the outcome of this game.
