Saturday night marked another brutal collapse in the Kentucky Wildcats’ second half against Tennessee Volunteers. The Wildcats led by 58-48 with less than 12 minutes to play after Brandon Boston Jr. sank in the transition, but the train left the tracks for John Calipari’s team shortly after that.
Tennessee used a 26-6 run to take a 10 point lead in the media’s final timeout. Kentucky failed to recover in the final minutes, as 11th Tennessee won 82-71.
After the game, Calipari maintained brutal honesty regarding his team’s difficulties.
“I don’t know what to say to you right now,” he said, by Kyle Tucker. “We are playing well enough to win and then reach a point where we cannot hit a basket.”
It’s been a fight all season for Kentucky, which has dropped to 5-12 this season. Calipari was also asked when he would start thinking about next season.
“I am concerned about the next game,” he said. “We are not that far!”
“I’m not thinking about next year,” He continued. “I owe that to these children and this program to do everything I can to reverse.”
The Wildcats had no answer for Tennessee’s freshman guards Keon Johnson and Jaden Springer. Johnson finished with 27 points and Springer 23 to lead the Vols. Kentucky is now at 5-12 in the season.
A career night for Keion Brooks it was not enough to pull the Wildcats fighters to the finish line. He scored 23 points, the highest of his career, and managed 11 rebounds in defeat. Freshman guard Devin Askew also scored 14 points, the best of his career. Senior Advanced Olivier Sarr added 14 points also in defeat.
Tennessee had a lot of problems during the first half. Beginners John Fulkerson and Santiago Vescovi both suffered two fouls just four minutes into the game, limiting their minutes for the rest of the time. Vols had six players with two fouls at halftime. Kentucky spent most of the first half on the bonus and took advantage of that. The Wildcats were 13 of 15 from the line and took a 42-34 lead for the break, despite kicking just 35 percent from the ground. The 42 points were the most conceded by Tennessee’s defense in the first half of this season.
Kentucky’s score was even in the first half, with Brooks leading with 11 points and seven rebounds in 15 minutes. Sarr added nine points. Askew had one of the best halves in months, finishing with eight points from 3 of 3 shots and no turnovers.
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Kentucky led 58-48 with 11:57 after Boston’s transition coup. The Vols responded with 12 consecutive points in the following minutes and took a 60-58 lead. Devin Askew knocked over a difficult runner to stop the Tennessee race and give Kentucky its first bucket in more than three minutes. However, Kentucky failed to slow the Tennessee race. It was an easy deal for the Vols from then on.
CatsPause contributed to this story.