Kentucky men’s basketball was without a starter. Its freshman point guard was hampered again by a back injury. Its top player had been “exposed” in recent games defensively. Its head coach faced increasing scrutiny. And preseason dreams of a Final Four run seemed laughable months later.
So of course the Wildcats, losers of two straight Southeastern Conference games, came into Knoxville, Tennessee, and took it to No. 5 Tennessee and its top-ranked defense Saturday afternoon.
UK, at least for one day, looked like the UK of old, shocking the Volunteers 63-56. It played with fire. Oscar Tshiebwe took over during key stretches and was not a liability on defense. CJ Fredrick led a 3-point effort that found some success against the nation’s best perimeter defense.
The result was the kind of win that, if the Wildcats (11-6, 2-3 SEC) end up in the NCAA Tournament and make a run, will be considered the moment an uninspiring season turned around.
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After the Vols (14-3, 4-1) sprinted out to an early 8-0 lead that seemed to portend UK’s demise, Fredrick drilled two 3s that erased the deficit and sparked an energized Kentucky effort the rest of the first half. Frederick scored 10 of UK’s first 15 points and the defense settled down against UT. Then Tshiebwe, who until the final five minutes of the half had been held to 0-of-2 shooting, took over. The reigning unanimous player of the year scored eight of Kentucky’s next 11 points to turn a 20-18 deficit into a 29-23 advantage.
Tshiebwe had a double-double five minutes into the second half to finish with 15 points and 13 rebounds, Fredrick added 13 points (3 of 9 from 3) and Antonio Reeves dropped 18 with a pair treys of his own. Kentucky, against a defense that allowed 20.9% from 3 entering the game, shot 31.3% from beyond the arc (5 of 16).
It was not perfect. Tshiebwe got caught in the middle on defense more than once in the first half, and Tennessee’s bigs went right at him in the second with low post-ups; 7-foot-1 senior Uros Plavsic powered to 19 points but grabbed just three rebounds. And the defense allowed the Volunteers to shoot 40.4% from the field and at times above 50% in the first half.
And Tennessee clawed its way back into the game in the second half despite trailing by nearly double figures at one point. Plavsic’s ability to back down Tshiebwe cut into the deficit, and Zaka Zeigler briefly gave the Vols a 43-41 lead at the midway point of the half.
But any win, especially against a top-5 team, is welcome at this stage for head coach John Calipari and a team that spent the start of the new year starving for answers.
Reeves answered with 14 points to put the Wildcats back up 58-50 in the next seven minutes to carry the Wildcats to victory.
Kentucky is home next week for two SEC games, starting Tuesday at 9 p.m. against Georgia (12-4, 2-1).