At this point, the Kentucky Wildcats’ season comes down to winning the SEC tournament or being eliminated. With its current track record, even doing the NIT would be in question.
But there is also the question of playing for pride. And with Big Blue Nation behind them, the Wildcats will surely fight until the end of the season.
The next test will take place on Saturday, when volunteers from Tennessee come to town. Tennessee was the pre-season favorite to beat the SEC arriving in the season, but they have been struggling to score lately and are currently 5-4 in the conference match.
Despite taking to Kansas at the SEC / Big 12 Challenge, Volunteers have won just one away game (at Texas A&M) since December 30th. They struggle a lot on the road, especially when it comes to scoring. It looks like another team I know.
Kentucky comes into play desperate for a quality victory. Tennessee is likely to fall from its 11th place in the AP ranking after the loss to Ole Miss, but this is probably the last Kentucky team in the top 25 on the calendar. Of course, they will play the Volunteers again in the future. But the best chance of winning is at Rupp Arena.
If you take the game from Kansas where Tennessee was beside themselves, they have scored just 54.8 points per game in the last five games. Apart from Kentucky’s victory over LSU, they managed 62.5 points per game.
So, as much as everyone complained about Kentucky’s offensive production, the Knoxville Volunteers struggled even more in the past three weeks.
Tennessee is led by everyone’s favorite SEC opponent, John Fulkerson, with 11 points remaining with 5.9 boards per game. After adding a career record of 27 points to the Vols’ victory at the Rupp Arena last season, Fulkerson has yet to reach 20 points this season.
The Volunteers are a very balanced team offensively with seven players averaging more than eight points per game.
However, it seems that his most important player is Jaden Springer. Tennessee has lost just one game since January 2 when Springer was available.
The freshman guard averages 9.6 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.7 rebounds per game, when available. But he is the glue that holds this offensive together, and he also shot 56.3% from the bottom, although he does not give a ton of three-point shots.
Coming into the season, many expected senior striker Yves Pons to be the Vols’ best player and one of the best defenders of college basketball. He won the SEC’s Defensive Player of the Year award last season, after averaging 10.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game.
As a senior, Pons saw his output drop as he averaged 9.4 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game, but has not registered any blockages in his last two games. He is still one of the best defenders in the league and will make life difficult for a Kentucky team that is already struggling to put the ball in the basket.
Surprisingly, Tennessee doesn’t have a single player averaging 30 minutes this season. Junior shipowner Victor Bailey Jr. (10.4 ppg), freshman keon Keon Johnson (9.0 ppg), shipowner Santiago Vescovi (8.7 ppg and 3.1 apg) and Josiah-Jordan James (8.3 ppg and 5.3 rpg) complete the remaining Volts averaging at least 20 minutes per game.
Overall, Tennessee is a bad shot team on the outside. But they are a very athletic team that creates easy looks by penetrating and using their athleticism to stay in the right position.
Isaiah Jackson may play a critical role on Saturday, eliminating easy appearances for Tennessee. He may be the only guy who can keep up with the Volunteers near the basket.
And, of course, there is controversy surrounding Terrence Clarke’s potential role in Saturday’s game. If he can play and if Tennessee doesn’t randomly catch fire outside, this must be a game of basketball played. We’ll find out on Saturday at 8pm
Kentucky Wildcats (5-11) vs Volunteers from Tennessee (12-4)
Game time: 8:00 pm Eastern Time on Saturday, February 6.
Location: Rupp Arena
Television channel: ESPN
Stream online: WatchESPN and fuboTV (free trial).
Radio: Tom Leach and Mike Pratt will make the UK radio network make 630 AM, 98.1 FM calls in Lexington and the UK Sports Network.
Repeat: WatchESPN and the SEC Network (check local listings).
Rosters: UK | UT
Box scores from the last game: UK | UT
Statistics to know: UK | UT
Odds: Tennessee opened as a 3.5-point favorite. ESPN’s match prediction gives Tennessee a 74% chance of victory. KenPom gives the Vols a 59% chance of victory.
Forecasts: KenPom projects Tennessee to win 62-59. TeamRankings has the Vols coming out with a 72-65 victory.