KNOXVILLE -- Tennessee gave the No. 1 team in the country the best it could for 32 minutes.
Kentucky simply had too much in the final eight.
Tennessee scored just four points in the final eight minutes, and the top-ranked team in the country ran out to a 66-48 win to give the 26-0 and top-ranked Wildcats the best start in the long, illustrious history of their program on Tuesday night at Thompson-Boling Arena.
On Monday, Tennessee coach Donnie Tyndall pointed to perimeter shooting, rebounding and turnovers as the formula to follow to hang with the best team in the country.
By the time the buzzer sounded on Tuesday night, Tennessee (14-11, 6-7 SEC) could only check off one of those items.
The Vols were a woeful 2-of-17 on 3-pointers, and though Tennessee finished even with the taller Wildcats on the glass, Kentucky (26-0, 13-0) scored all but two of its 16 second-chance points in the second half.
The Wildcats also scored 16 points off Tennessee's 15 turnovers.
Only five SEC teams have played the Wildcats within double digits this season, and for nearly 30 minutes of the game, the Vols hung on enough that it looked like they might become the sixth.
Kentucky was just too tall and too talented to let it happen, though.
The Wildcats took their largest lead of the game early in the second half, when Willie Cauley-Stein dunked after an offensive rebound and Devin Booker hit a 3-pointer to make it 40-33, but Tennessee would not go easily.
Armani Moore, Kevin Punter and Derek Reese scored on second-chance opportunities, and Punter got behind Kentucky's press for an uncontested layup to make it 48-44 with about nine minutes left.
Kentucky then squeezed the life out of the overmatched hosts with a 10-0 run over about a four-minute span.
Andrew Harrison dunked following a steal near midcourt, and after Tyler Ulis missed a free throw, freshman Karl-Anthony Towns grabbed the rebound and converted a three-point play that made it 56-44 with 6:54 left in the game.
Tennessee hit just two of its last 12 shots in its sixth loss in the last eight games.
Tennessee twice took the lead well into the first half.
After Richardson beat the Wildcats down the floor for a goal-tended layup, Kevin Punter finished a run-out after Tariq Owens deflected a pass that led to a steal.
Owens then flew in to tip in Armani Moore's miss while being fouled and converted the three-point play to give the Vols a 26-23 lead with 4:02 left before halftime.
After Kentucky answered with a 6-0 spurt, Devon Baulkman, who earlier hit a 3-pointer, flew in to grab a rebound and flip it up off the glass and in while being fouled, and his three-point play made it 29-all with 53 seconds left in the first half.
The Wildcats took a 35-31 lead into the break after Booker and Andrew Harrison hit 3s in the final 40 seconds.
Tennessee shot 54 percent in the first half against the SEC's best defense and finished with a 20-8 advantage in paint points, but the Wildcats had eight offensive rebounds and scored nine points off nine Tennessee turnovers.
Punter led Tennessee with 14 points, and Richardson finished with 10 points on 4-of-14 shooting.
Booker led Kentucky with 18 points and seven rebounds.
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.