Mark WiedmerNASHVILLE – With arguably the most stunning comeback in University of Tennessee basketball history complete, an eight-point Kentucky lead with 2:45 to play having turned into an 82-78 Big Orange victory in Saturday’s Southeastern Conference tournament semifinal headliner, a UT assistant turned to head coach Rick Barnes as they were leaving the Bridgestone Arena court and said, “This is the greatest game I’ve ever been involved in.”
Kentucky fans might dispute that. They might call it one the most painful defeats they’ve ever been involved in.
And those numbers – eight down with 2:45 to go – no doubt will be repeated by both schools’ fans for years to come. Especially since UK and UT fans alike now can start calling Barnes “The Cal Killer” in regard to Kentucky coach John Calipari.
After all, this was not only the fourth time in the past six meetings that Barnes has gotten the best of Cal, but there’s also that game in 2016 when the Wildcats led by 21 points inside UT’s Thompson-Boling Arena and somehow lost.
But none of those previous Big Orange wins carried the importance of this one, which just may have handed the victor a coveted No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament when the 68-team is announced Sunday evening.