Tennessee men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes expresses to an official his disagreement with a foul called against Grant Williams during the Vols’ home win against West Virginia in January.KNOXVILLE – Heading into one of the top regular-season matchups in program history, Tennessee’s basketball Volunteers are approaching Saturday night’s game just as they would any other.
The top-ranked Vols look to build a three-game Southeastern Conference lead on fifth-ranked Kentucky (20-4, 9-2) when they face off at Rupp Arena in Lexington, with tipoff set for 8:05.
The Wildcats had a 10-game winning streak end Tuesday night in a last-second home loss against LSU, which moved into second place with one loss against SEC competition, with the Vols currently 11-0 against league opponents and 23-1 overall.
Having an experienced team, Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said Friday that he didn’t expect the environment to have too much of an effect on the Vols, who won at Kentucky last season after losing the two prior years.
“A year ago at this time, we were pretty much locked into what we had to do,” Barnes said. “Last year is when we started playing really good basketball together, and everybody seemed to find their niche. I think our guys are locked in, and we would not be where we are if they were not locked in. I have no reason to say they aren’t locked in.”