Tennessee Stops Kentucky 103-92 in Top 10 Showdown

See Box Score below

By Jamie H. Vaught

It wasn’t a very pretty night for the slumping Kentucky Wildcats as they couldn’t overcome their slow start against No. 5 Tennessee Vols, dropping a high-scoring affair Saturday night at Rupp Arena.

No. 10 Kentucky, now 15-6 overall (5-4 SEC), was never ahead in the rivalry showdown and had to play catch up with the Vols before losing 103-92.  The setback was UK’s second straight at home and third in the last four games.  Tennessee improved its overall mark to 16-5 (6-2 in SEC).

Rob Dillingham of Kentucky goes around a Tennessee defender during Saturday night's action at Rupp Arena. (Photo by Wayne Mason)

“We dug ourselves a hole to start of the game,” said Kentucky sophomore Adou Thiero. “We should’ve come out and kept it close at the beginning and we probably would’ve been fine at the end of the game. We dug ourselves a hole we couldn’t get out of.”

Added UK freshman Rob Dillingham, who hit a career-high 35 points, including 6 of 8 three-pointers, “It was just like we couldn’t win anything. That’s what we got to learn and get better at. We go out there and we come to play but we’re not competing. So, we got to learn to get the little plays and do the gritty stuff to win.”

Tennessee, which hit three-pointers on its first two possessions, began the emotional contest with an 8-0 lead in the first two minutes of action, and Kentucky struggled the rest of the night.

On back-to-back losses at Rupp Arena, Thiero said, “I mean we have yet to play with our full team but not making excuses you know we going to figure everything out. We are going to find a fight in ourselves. We are a group of competitors. We got to get it figured out.”

Kentucky star freshman D.J. Wagner, a three-time SEC Freshman of the Week, did not play due to an ankle injury.  He also missed UK’s loss to Florida last Wednesday.

UK freshman Reed Sheppard, who had 16 points and six assists, said Wagner obviously would be a big help when he returns to action.  “D.J. is a great teammate,” he said. “He's very vocal on the court. And he does everything that we need him to do. You know, he's really good at keeping guys on the game. And then on defense and offense, he's just a dog. So, he's really fun to play with.

"But you know we got to win without him as well. So, we'll keep working and we'll keep getting better and we'll keep fighting as a team and this game isn’t going to define the rest of the season. It's a long season.”

Dillingham agreed the team is missing Wagner "a lot because he helps us with like being a leader and helping us be together and he’s our point guard. He’s another piece of the team that’s not at it where he’s got grit and D.J. wants it. D.J. comes to play every day and not everybody has that mindset. That’s why when we play, we miss him as our point guard. He comes to play every day and gets our starting five a push. So, just his mindset, leadership, and want to win.”

Asked about the high-scoring game, Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said, “This was a high possession game, and Kentucky is lethal. When they get out on a run and get down the floor, they really attack. We play fast. That’s what we talk about. So I knew it was going to be a high possession game without a question. But it goes back to what I’ve said. Each game takes on its own personality, but we knew coming in here would be a lot of up and down, and a lot of shots.”

Entering the game, UK  ranked third in the nation in scoring at 88.6 points per game.

Junior guard Zakai Zeigler of Tennessee gunned in a career-high tying 26 points and had a career-high 13 assists.  Fifth-year guard Josiah-Jordan James added a career-high 26 points for the Vols.

"We had a chance," said Kentucky mentor John Calipari. "I watched a lot of tape and I have to give Tennessee credit. They played and made shots and did stuff. When you look and you say we shot what we did and we shot from the 3 what we did. They had a bunch of offensive rebounds (18). We had 22 second chance (points). 22. Three plays hurt us out of bounds. .... And again, when you don't have the right guy on the ball, that stuff happens. But the kids fought. I haven't lost any faith. We 

don't have D.J. Teams are playing good against us and all our goals are still there. I have a good 

team. We are young and still make some errors. We've got to get healthy."

Kentucky plays at Vanderbilt in Nashville Tuesday night. The game time is 8:30 p.m. ET and it will be shown on SEC Network.

UT faces LSU Wednesday night in Knoxville. The 7 p.m. ET contest will be televised by SEC Network.

Jamie H. Vaught, a longtime sports columnist in Kentucky, is the author of six books about UK basketball, including recently-published “Forever Crazy About the Cats: An Improbable Journey of a Kentucky Sportswriter Overcoming Adversity." He is the editor and founder of KySportsStyle.com Magazine, and a professor at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College in Middlesboro. You can follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @KySportsStyle or reach him via email at KySportsStyle@gmail.com.