KNOXVILLE – Tennessee men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes wasted little time getting acclimated to the program’s heated rivalry with Kentucky during the 2015-16 season, his first in Knoxville.
He didn’t have much of a choice.
Barnes’ Volunteers (13-9, 6-4 Southeastern Conference) will welcome John Calipari’s 15th-ranked Wildcats (17-5, 7-2) to Thompson-Boling Arena at 1 p.m. Saturday for the latest meeting between the old foes. CBS will televise the game.
Kentucky leads 155-73 in a series that tipped off in 1910, but the Wildcats hold just a 55-52 edge in Knoxville and are only 16-15 at Thompson-Boling.
“Obviously, you are talking about one of the great college basketball programs in the country – a program that everybody wants to beat when you’re not a part of that program, just like they do any of the other schools that have had great success over many decades,” Barnes said Thursday. “Kentucky is one of them, and obviously just being 2 1/2 hours up the road is (one reason for the rivalry’s intensity).