Despite facing great odds, the Kentucky Wildcats knocked off the Tennessee Volunteers in Knoxville on Tuesday night by a final score of 78-73.

The Cats might have been short-handed, but they didn’t come out flat, knocking down four threes early on to take a 12-4 lead. However, slowly but surely, the wheels started to fall off. Kentucky held an 8-point lead with three minutes remaining in the half, but the Vols went on an 11-0 run to take a 33-30 lead into the half.

After the break, Mark Pope’s squad didn’t drop their heads. Instead, they went on a 20-9 run to retake an 8-point lead, which got up to as many as 11 points.

The second half ended just as the first did — almost, as the Vols rallied and had several chances to tie it, but Kentucky fought back and was able to pull out an improbable victory over Ole Rocky Top.

This is the latest monster win in a season that’s been full of them, especially when Kentucky was facing long odds — a 10.5-point underdog tonight and with Lamont Butler, while Andrew Carr barely played — while also rebounding from a bad loss.

That was one of the grittiest wins Kentucky has had in recent memory.

Next up, the Cats will return to Lexington to face a familiar face. John Calipari returns to Kentucky as the head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday night.

No Butler, No Carr, No Problem

Lamont Butler, after struggling over the past few games, missed this one with a shoulder injury. Andrew Carr, who missed the last game, was “available” in this one but has been dealing with a nagging back injury. Carr “played” for less than a minute, but he was removed and didn’t return.

In their absence, Jaxson Robinson manned the point alongside Otega Oweh, Koby Brea, Ansley Almonor, and Amari Williams. We saw Robinson start at the point last time Butler was out in a win over the Gonzaga Bulldogs, but Kerr Kriisa remains sidelined and the team just looks a bit different.

The offense just doesn’t run as smoothly without Butler, and it really takes away one of Kentucky’s only players who can take his man off the dribble whenever he wants. It also hurt on the defensive side as Butler is elite on that end.

Luckily, the Cats took advantage of Tennessee’s poor three-point defense as all five starters were excellent in all facets of the game.

Extended Rotation

No Butler or Carr means more Robinson, Brea, and Almonor, right? Yes, but it also meant more Travis Perry, Trent Noah, and Collin Chandler.

Perry has played extended minutes since Kriisa’s injury, but Chandler and Noah have been basically unplayable since the first of the year. Perry has been serviceable, but he’s no world-beater. Noah lacks the skill set of a guard and is forced to play the four spot, which he does not excel at. Chandler has been rusty since his return from a mission trip.

Surprisingly, these guys actually gave Kentucky some good minutes in this game. The first half was brutal, but they all chipped in after the break. Chandler was especially good on the defensive end, while Noah didn’t hesitate to shoot.

The problem here is that while I understand Mark Pope likes to go deep into his bench, in games like this one, he has to shorten the rotation. Kentucky’s style of play doesn’t make it easy to play guys 35-plus minutes per game, but sometimes, you have to just figure it out.

Most games in the SEC this season are just too big for the freshmen, especially on the road. Pope has got to adjust, and his guys have got to dig deep to figure out a way to condition themselves to stay on the floor longer. The drop-off when the bench emptied was clear, albeit not a complete zero.

Protecting the basketball

Kentucky does a really good job, generally, of protecting the ball, especially with how well it shares it. The biggest issue in a couple of the losses this season has been turnovers.

The Cats turned it over 14 times in Athens against the Georgia Bulldogs a few weeks ago, and they had 17 turnovers in a loss to the Vanderbilt Commodores this past Saturday. Pope’s squad looked poised to continue this concerning trend against the Vols as they turned it over seven times in the first half alone.

Turnovers are the reason this game was close enough in the first half for Tennessee to make a run and even take the lead. In the second half, Kentucky made it a clear priority to stop giving a bad offensive team freebies.

They did a good job the majority of the second half, but that fell apart in the last five or so minutes, just like it did in the first half, and the game immediately flipped. The reason this hurts Kentucky so much is because they aren’t a very good defensive team and giving opponents, especially ones that are bad offensively, extra possessions is a recipe for disaster.

When things are going well, you won’t notice the ball given away so freely.

The Cats picked up a massive victory on the road with another big, emotional matchup coming up on Saturday.

Go CATS!