If Saturday night turns out to be the only occasion when Tennessee five-star talents Keon Johnson and Jaden Springer play inside Rupp Arena, they certainly made the most of it.
The freshman guards for the No. 11 Volunteers combined for a whopping 50 points in an 82-71 triumph over Kentucky that marked the program’s third win in Lexington in the past four seasons. Johnson and Springer entered one of college basketball’s cathedrals and shot a combined 18-of-33 from the floor and 13-of-15 on free throws.
“Coming into the game, we just wanted to win,” Johnson said afterward on a Zoom call. “We had to get back to the way that we play, which is playing as hard as we can and playing to the last minute. We knew the type of team that Kentucky was and that we just had to come out and execute. I feel like we did the job.”
Tennessee’s play down the stretch was in sharp contrast to Tuesday’s 52-20 loss at Ole Miss, when the Vols went 12 minutes and 23 seconds without a made basket. After Tennessee tied it at 58 with 10 straight points Saturday, its freshman tandem took over as Johnson and Springer scored 18 straight points in a continued surge that provided the Vols a 76-66 lead that iced the game.
Johnson’s 27 points and Springer’s 23 were career highs.