Tennessee has been the best team in college basketball this season when it comes to 3-point defense.
Kentucky doesn’t seem to care.
For the second time in two weeks, the Wildcats made 12 of 24 attempts from long range against the Volunteers, sweeping the season series Tuesday night with a 75-64 triumph inside Rupp Arena. A Zakai Zeigler layup with 4:50 remaining put Tennessee up 60-58, but Kentucky closed out the game on a 17-4 run.
“I’m disappointed in the last four minutes with our execution both offensively and defensively, and especially on the defensive end,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said afterward on the Vol Network. “We had too many unforced situations offensively, and I thought a couple players got too emotional and broke away from our execution, which gave them the spark they needed.
“We were there. We just didn’t do what we needed to do to finish it out.”
Barnes was once 10-7 against Kentucky as Tennessee’s coach but is now 11-12 after losing five of the last six meetings.
A Koby Brea 3-pointer with 4:21 left put the Wildcats ahead for good at 61-60 and he struck again from behind the arc by shooting over Tennessee’s 6-foot-11 Felix Okpara to make it 68-62 with 2:08 remaining. Kentucky then essentially sealed the game on an Otega Oweh dunk with 1:20 left that made it 70-62.
“Those two 3-pointers were right on our scouting report,” Barnes said of Brea. “We know he likes to bounce it and shoot it, and we didn’t have our hands up anticipating it better. We knew from the bench he was getting ready to raise up, and when he gets it to a certain point, there isn’t much you can do with it.”
The No. 15 Wildcats improved to 17-7 and to 6-5 in Southeastern Conference play, while the No. 5 Vols dropped to 20-5 and 7-5.
Zeigler paced Tennessee with 17 points and six assists, while Igor Milicic Jr. had 16 points and nine rebounds. The Vols, who were an abysmal 11-of-45 from 3-point range during their 78-73 loss to Kentucky on Jan. 28 inside the Food City Center, struggled again in that area with a 3-of-18 clip.
“I’m so proud of our guys,” Kentucky first-year coach Mark Pope said in a news conference. “We have guys who just want to fight and compete. We had guys step up and make huge plays, and I’m just really grateful that we get to be on this magical, incredible journey that you only get to do at the University of Kentucky.”
Oweh and Ansley Almonor led Kentucky with 13 points apiece, while Brea and Trent Noah each scored 11. Lamont Butler, who missed the first meeting in Knoxville due to a shoulder injury, tallied six points, four assists and three steals, but had to leave the game with 8:40 remaining after re-injuring his shoulder.
The Wildcats were outrebounded by the Vols 33-26 but more than overcame that with the sizable differential in 3-point shooting. Tennessee entered Tuesday leading the nation defensively in 3-point goal percentage (26.6), field-goal percentage (36.2) and fewest points per game (57.3).
“They’re really good at making shots and getting separation and attacking switches,” Vols senior guard Jordan Gainey said. “They’re a really good 3-point shooting team.”
Butler stole the ball from Zeigler and drove in for a layup within the game’s first 15 seconds. The Wildcats bolted out to a 6-0 advantage, but the Vols responded with a 9-2 run and took what would be their only lead of the half at 9-8 on a pair of Zeigler free throws at the 12:49 mark.
Tennessee was still within a possession at 27-24 following a Cade Phillips free throw with 3:11 before halftime, but consecutive 3-pointers by Noah and Brand0n Garrison helped Kentucky claim a 33-26 lead at the break. The Wildcats were 7-of-14 on 3-point attempts during the first half, while the Vols missed all five of their tries from long range.
Milicic ended Tennessee’s 3-point drought by making two in the first five minutes of the second half.
“We wound up putting ourselves back in the lead,” Barnes said. “They’re going to make some shots, but we just didn’t finish it. You can’t mess up on those plays at the end.”
Holding pattern
Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello met with the media Tuesday and was asked about the status of first baseman Alberto Osuna, who played the past three seasons at North Carolina after starting his career at Walters State.
Osuna, who hit .285 with 14 home runs and 56 RBIs in 61 games last season for the Tar Heels, enrolled at Tennessee last week and is hoping to benefit from the same NCAA ruling that provided Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia an extra year of eligibility. Pavia spent two seasons at the New Mexico Military Institute and two at New Mexico State before playing last year in Nashville.
“As of now, I think he’s waiting for clearance of being eligible,” Vitello said. “We’ll see what happens on Friday, but especially with a kid as good as he is, you hope he can use his last year of eligibility.”
The Vols open their 2025 season Friday afternoon against visiting Hofstra.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.