The 242nd meeting between Kentucky and Tennessee in men’s basketball will be the first to take place in the NCAA tournament.
Friday night’s Sweet 16 matchup in Indianapolis (7:39 on TBS) is the only head-to-head meeting of Southeastern Conference teams in this year’s regional semifinals, with the SEC having set a new NCAA standard by producing seven of the remaining 16 teams. This anticipated showdown will transpire nearly three years after North Carolina’s 81-77 dumping of Duke at the 2022 Final Four, with that serving as the 258th series contest but the first in NCAA tourney play.
Though the Midwest Region’s third-seeded Wildcats swept the second-seeded Volunteers by multiple possessions during the regular season, Tennessee has opened up as a 4.5-point favorite, which is allowing Kentucky players to continue to take the underdog role to heart.
“I feel like we got a lot of underdogs on this team,” fifth-year senior guard Lamont Butler said following Sunday night’s 84-75 win over sixth-seeded Illinois. “We have people who have been doubted throughout our lives. Growing up in basketball, not a lot of us were highly recruited or anything like that. For us to be on this stage, we just wanted to seize the opportunity and be great out there.”
Said fellow fifth-year senior guard Koby Brea: “We’ve gone through a lot this year, and a lot of people didn’t think we were going to be here, so it’s just a testament of what God has done for us.”
Kentucky (24-11) battled through injuries and inconsistencies throughout the regular season and was rudely dismissed by Alabama 99-70 in the SEC tournament quarterfinals. First-year coach Mark Pope and his Wildcats are advancing in this NCAA tournament without fifth-year senior guards Kerr Kriisa (foot) and Jaxson Robinson (wrist), who sustained season-ending injuries, but Rick Barnes and the Vols have played most of this season without sophomore forward J.P. Estrella (foot) and sophomore guard Cameron Carr (transfer portal).
This is the third consecutive Sweet 16 appearance for Tennessee, a first in program history, while tradition-rich Kentucky is back at this familiar stage for the first time since 2019, when the Wildcats lost in overtime to Auburn in the Elite Eight.
“I just think we’re battle-tested after having gone through this whole conference,” said Butler, who played in the 2023 Final Four with San Diego State. “This conference was a beast. We had a lot of good teams that we played, but we stayed resilient and we stayed together.
“Everybody has been playing with love and passion for one another, and we can’t focus on anything but the next game and how we have a lot of love and we’re going to win that game.”
Tennessee’s obvious task will be stopping Kentucky’s 3-point barrage, with the Wildcats having gone 12-of-24 from long distance in both their 78-73 January triumph in Knoxville and their 75-64 February win in Lexington. Kentucky closed its victory at home against Tennessee on a 17-4 run after the Vols had gone up 60-58.
In Tennessee’s 67-58 win over UCLA late Saturday night, the Vols trailed 23-21 after a Trent Perry 3-pointer with 5:27 before halftime before closing the half on an 11-2 run. They then opened the second half on a 23-12 surge, taking a 55-37 lead with just under eight minutes to play.
The Vols held UCLA to five made baskets in that 18-minute stretch, which began with the implementation of a 1-2-2 press that covered three quarters of the court.
“Going in we have a lot of things built in, but honestly we’re a team of adjustments, so we know how to adjust,” Tennessee senior guard Jahmai Mashack said afterward in a news conference. “We don’t want to give every team our first look. We see how the game is flowing and how they’re handling the ball, and we see if their passes are a little long or short or whatever the case may be.
“We’re pretty good at adjusting to the situation.”
Unleashing something similar on Kentucky could result in what likely would be considered the biggest victory in program history. Tennessee is seeking its second consecutive Elite Eight appearance and just the third overall.
Yet Kentucky, which allowed 90 or more points six times in conference play, has vaulted from 110th nationally in defensive efficiency to 45th since its 98-84 loss at Ole Miss on Feb. 4. The Wildcats forced eight turnovers in the first 12 minutes against Illinois, which resulted in the sharp-shooting Brea praising Butler afterward as an effective ‘head of the snake.”
Pope, however, quickly lauded Brea for the defensive improvement.
“Certainly we have been gathering data, and we had some slippage and had to rethink some things,” Pope said. “The easy answer for me is Koby Brea. He all of a sudden started saying, ‘I’m taking this personal. I’m going to take every single defensive possession personal.’ After we came home from Ole Miss, he went through two straight practices where he was flying around and diving on the floor.
“He just changed. It became not a job but something insanely personal to him.”
Mashack’s marks
Mashack played in his eighth NCAA tournament victory Saturday night, setting a new program record.
The 6-foot-4, 202-pounder from Fontana, California, has experienced wins over Longwood (2022), Louisiana (2023), Duke (2023), Saint Peter’s (2024), Texas (2024), Creighton (2024), Wofford (2025) and UCLA (2025), and he has endured losses to Michigan (2022), Florida Atlantic (2023) and Purdue (2024). Fellow Vols senior guard Zakai Zeigler has been a part of six NCAA tournament triumphs, having missed the 2023 postseason with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
Friday night, Mashack will become the first Tennessee player to compete in three Sweet 16 contests.
“As soon as I signed with Tennessee, I knew that was something I wanted to do,” Mashack said. “I’ve been winning all my career. It’s not something that is new to me. I’m not saying that to be cocky. I’m saying that because I put in the work.
“I had to scrap for everything I would get.”
Mashack also will set a record Friday when he plays in his 12th NCAA tournament game, breaking the mark he currently shares with Wayne Chism, who played from 2006-10.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.