No. 7 Tennessee men 71, No. 4 Kentucky 52: The good, the bad and the verdict

Tennessee point guard Jordan Bone drives past Kentucky guard Ashton Hagans during the second half of Saturday's game in Knoxville. Bone scored 27 points to lead the Vols to a 71-52 victory.
Tennessee point guard Jordan Bone drives past Kentucky guard Ashton Hagans during the second half of Saturday's game in Knoxville. Bone scored 27 points to lead the Vols to a 71-52 victory.
photo Tennessee point guard Jordan Bone drives past Kentucky guard Ashton Hagans during the second half of Saturday's game in Knoxville. Bone scored 27 points to lead the Vols to a 71-52 victory.

KNOXVILLE - Led by a dominating defensive performance and a stalwart effort by point guard Jordan Bone, seventh-ranked Tennessee capped its most impressive week of the season with a 71-52 win over No. 4 Kentucky on Saturday in front of an announced sellout crowd of 21,729 at Thompson-Boling Arena.

The Volunteers (26-3, 14-2 Southeastern Conference) face Mississippi State at 9 p.m. Tuesday in their home finale. They close the regular season next Saturday with a noon EST game at Auburn.

Tennessee held the Wildcats (24-5, 13-3) to 26 fewer points than their season average in scoring and a season-low 32 percent shooting from the field while forcing 17 turnovers. The Vols set the standard in the first half, forcing 12 consecutive misses and holding Kentucky to 23 percent shooting while building a 37-24 halftime lead.

The Vols stretched the lead to 20 twice in the second half, the second time on a Grant Williams 3-pointer with 4:18 to play.

Bone was the catalyst for the Vols, though, finishing with 27 points and three assists with no turnovers in 35 minutes. He made 11 of his 15 shots, including all five he took from 3-point range. Williams followed with his usual workmanlike performance, totaling 24 points and seven rebounds. The Vols shot 44 percent but scored 18 points off Kentucky turnovers.

Jordan Bowden added nine points, Admiral Schofield seven points and seven rebounds and Lamonte Turner a team-high six assists.

Kentucky's P.J. Washington scored a team-high 13 points.

Here's the good, the bad and the verdict for Tennessee from Saturday's win:

THE GOOD

As opposed to Tennessee's 86-69 loss to Kentucky on Feb. 16 in Lexington, a lot. The Vols lost the battle of the boards again - 39-36 this time as opposed to 39-26 last time - but it was the only interior battle they lost Saturday. Tennessee had 28 points in the paint while holding the Wildcats to 10. Kentucky could never get comfortable on the offensive end, with starting guards Ashton Hagans, Tyler Herro and Keldon Johnson shooting a combined 6-for-26. Tennessee's defense was solid for 40 minutes, which allowed the Vols to eventually get into a flow offensively by getting out in transition. They did that in the second half, shooting 50 percent from the field while led by Bone and Williams, who combined for 51 points in the game.

THE BAD

When you defeat a top-five team by 19 points, not much qualifies.

THE VERDICT

It was the loss in Lexington that made the Vols realize their calling card was defense, not offense. Since then they've been effective on that end of the court and have gone back to what made them so good last season. The Vols were punched in the mouth two weeks ago, and they've responded since then. If they maintain the level of play they're currently at, the dream of a deep postseason run is back to being more of a possibility than a dream.

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.

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