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He Kentucky Wildcats Beat the Tennessee Volunteers Saturday afternoon in Knoxville by a score of 85-81.
Both teams got off to a putrid start before the offense slowly began to pick up after midway through the first half. The defensive effort was definitely present on both ends, but Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht and Kentucky’s Antonio Reeves, along with Justin Edwards, led the way offensively for their respective teams. The Cats led by as many as 10, but the Vols cut the lead to 33-29 at the half.
After the break, the Cats extended their lead to as many as 14 and responded every time the Vols cut, but Knecht single-handedly forced Tennessee back into the game, finishing the game with 40 points on 14/29 shooting. Kentucky didn’t have an answer for him, and I’m not sure anyone could.
However, as we will see later, although Kentucky did not have a defensive answer, it did have one on the offensive end, and his name was Reed Sheppard, who finished with 27 points (tied for the team-high), six rebounds. and five assists (team-high).
Antonio Reeves was also a stud, scoring 27 points and pulling down a team-high seven rebounds.
The Cats earned a monumental road win tonight. They secured the No. 2 or No. 3 seed in the SEC, guaranteeing the all-important double bye. The Vols had already clinched the No. 1 seed earlier this week, but a Kentucky loss could have dropped them as low as the No. 5 seed.
The regular season is over and now March Madness has officially begun. He SEC Tournament begins Wednesday in Nashville. Kentucky and Tennessee will play on Friday. Kentucky will play at 7 or 9:30 p.m. ET, depending on whether Auburn wins tonight.
Now, here’s what you need to know about this HUGE victory in Knoxville.
Foul trouble slows Cats
As mentioned above, the first half was a defensive struggle, and for the Cats, that was largely attributed to foul trouble. Five Cats committed two fouls in the first half compared to just one for the Vols.
Rob Dillingham, DJ Wagner, Tre Mitchell, Adou Thiero and Zvonimir Ivisic committed two fouls before halftime, preventing the Cats from getting into a consistent rhythm. Kentucky held its own in the first half despite foul trouble, but the lead certainly could have been bigger.
Foul trouble not only hurt the Cats offensively, but also allowed Tennessee to stay in the game despite a horrible shooting performance in the first half. The Vols were in the bonus with 13 minutes left before halftime and shot quite a few more free throws than Kentucky.
It’s worth noting that Tennessee was held to just six free throw attempts in the second half.
The road warrior returns
Antonio Reeves has been nothing short of consistent this year, but he’s been even better away from home. Since last season, when he dropped 37 points against the Arkansas Razorbacks in Fayetteville in the season finale, Reeves has been nothing less than a road warrior.
The senior guard has scored consistently all season, including seven straight 20-plus point games, but he’s also scored 20-plus points in seven straight road games. He’s been just amazing.
Reeves was the definition of inconsistent last season, which included a horrible performance in Kentucky’s loss in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, but he is playing like an All-American and SEC Player of the Year candidate this season.
Edwards continues to shine
Count me in the group of people who gave up on Justin Edwards a while ago. I thought John Calipari was crazy to still be managing Edwards, much less in the starting lineup, but he proved me and a lot of other people wrong.
The former five-star freshman was Kentucky’s highest-rated recruit in many places and was even projected as a No. 1 pick. NBA Draft Pick at a couple of spots before the season. He certainly didn’t play like that for most of the season, but he has slowly improved and shined on this season’s biggest stage.
This one clearly meant a lot to Edwards, as he played like a man with something to prove. As many of you may remember, Edwards chose UK over UT when many assumed he was headed to Knoxville. He disdained the Vols and they ended up getting Knecht to take his place. While they’ll take that trade-off every day of the week, Edwards did his best to remind them of what they missed.
Sheppard answers the call
Reed Sheppard has a (frustrating) tendency to play passively. When he is aggressive, he is usually the best player on the court. When he’s not, he still does so many good things that he can’t be blamed too much, but sometimes Kentucky just needs the rookie guard to take over.
He did just that in this game. As mentioned above, Reeves and Edwards played especially well, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Sheppard’s performance. He did the usual things, grabbing rebounds, dishing out assists and stealing passes, but he also seemed to provide an answer whenever the Cats needed it.
Kentucky’s legacy surely wanted this badly, as most Kentuckians hate the Volunteers, and the Vols absolutely embarrassed Kentucky at Rupp Arena last month. He definitely played like a guy who refused to lose. He couldn’t fail on his way to 27 points on 7-10 from the three-point line.
It was just an incredible performance.
What a victory for the Cats!
Now is the time to celebrate this MONUMENTAL victory!
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