Heading into Thompson-Boling Arena with two starters either out or limited, many fans would’ve said Kentucky men’s basketball didn’t have a prayer of beating No. 8 Tennessee.
When speaking about the 78-73 upset Kentucky recorded to snap a two-game losing streak, Head Coach Mark Pope implied that a prayer was exactly what it took to secure victory.
“We always say a team prayer before we come out to play and Coach (Alvin) Brooks (III) gave the prayer,” Pope said. “He prayed that we could have confidence, but, even more importantly, that we could have ‘Godfidance.’ I’d never heard Godfidance before, but I love it.”
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Marching into a sold-out hostile atmosphere that holds 21,000+ fans, most of which were passionate and rowdy Tennessee supporters, Pope said it didn’t matter who was in the stands because the Cats were ultimately playing for an audience of one.
“We’re a pretty faithful team,” Pope said. “We’re kind of, in some ways, performing for an audience of one. We’re trying to take all the other noise and set it aside a little bit, so when you see a game like this where, for us, confidence was a real factor, it’s pretty special.”
Kentucky’s head man was far from the only one that felt that Brooks’ special prayer and talk of Godfidance helped the Cats to earn a sixth top-15 victory as early as Jan. 28 as star guard Jaxson Robinson, who logged 17 points — second to only Koby Brea’s 18 — also felt that the words brought him comfort.
“AB (Brooks) had a great prayer today, actually,” Robinson said. “I think it hit everybody, struck everybody’s core. I’m glad Coach Pope brought that up because I think that did actually help us a lot. Just doing it for one person.”
Motivated and trusting in a higher power, Pope’s Cats conquered the top-10 Vols, marking the first time since 2006 that any UK squad had beaten Tennessee in Knoxville in three consecutive seasons after John Calipari’s Cats also did so in the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
When looking at how the game itself played out, some may find it hard to argue there wasn’t a higher power involved as Tennessee had every opportunity to take the lead late and hold onto its perfect home record, but shots simply would not fall.
While missing shots is a part of basketball, it was even more notable that, in a game in which UT shot the second most 3-pointers in program history (45), most, even wide open ones, simply could not find the net.
“They missed some for us,” Pope said. “They had like 62 threes in the last 17 seconds because we couldn’t grab a rebound, we were fortunate that some of those didn’t go in for sure. You have to have some good fortune in this game.”
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While Tennessee certainly did itself no favors, it didn’t change the fact that, after entering as double-digit underdogs, Kentucky itself never seemed rattled by anything the Vols threw at it, even recovering from an 11-0 scoring run UT had to close the first half and steal the advantage at halftime.
A primary reason for this confidence and faith in itself? Once again, Godfidence.
Kentucky big man Amari Williams, who finished with a 10-point-15-rebound double-double on his birthday, also spoke about how his faith in God helped him to keep from getting discouraged throughout the contest.
“There’s a lot of tough people in this league, a lot of tough guys, just knowing that I can hold my own and going out there with no fear,” Williams, who wears a “Fear God” tattoo on his right arm, said. “Knowing that I fear no one (on Earth), that’s basically what it is. Putting all my belief in God and he’s gonna help me get through it.”
Williams would finish with a team-high +20 in the +/-, a statistic that tracks how successful a team performed scoring wise with that player on the court.
Kentucky will continue to have a long road ahead of it in a meat-grinder SEC conference as questions continue to linger about the health of both Lamont Butler and Andrew Carr, but the team’s ability to believe in something larger than itself and show no fear in the face of adversity will be pivotal as it moves forward with six currently ranked AP Top 25 teams remaining.
The Cats will next return to action on Saturday, Feb. 1, when they welcome Calipari’s new squad, the Arkansas Razorbacks, to Rupp Arena. Tipoff against the Hogs is scheduled for 9 p.m. ET and will air live on ESPN.