No. 10 Kentucky men’s basketball suffered a second consecutive loss on Saturday, falling to No. 5 Tennessee 103-92.
Rob Dillingham led all scorers in the game with 35 points, but the effort was ultimately not enough as poor defending and a slow start saw the Cats come up short in the top 10 showdown.
The Wildcats entered the game on the back of a 94-91 overtime loss versus the Florida Gators at home, which marked the third SEC loss for UK. The Cats were forced to play without starting point guard D.J. Wagner and starter Justin Edwards.
Looking to get back on the right track, Kentucky brought out a starting lineup of Edwards, Antonio Reeves, Reed Sheppard, Tre Mitchell and Ugonna Onyenso. Wagner was declared out shortly before tip-off with big man Zvonimir Ivišić being ruled unlikely but available in case of emergency.
Regrettably for the home fans, the start would not be pretty for Kentucky, with the Vols quickly jumping out to a 13-3 lead with an eruption from beyond the arch.
The entrance of Adou Thiero helped a bit, but the score quickly became 16-5 with less than five minutes played, an 11-point gap for the Cats.
This all changed, however, with the entrance of Dillingham, who erupted from the field and closed the gap with eight quick points.
The rally would prove to be short-lived, however, as the Vols extended their lead back up to 14 points with under eight minutes remaining in the half.
Kentucky refused to back down, however, and, led by Dillingham with 17 first half points, managed to rally back within four to end the half.
Despite trailing by just four, Kentucky quickly found itself trailing by double digits once again as Tennessee continued to nail shots from beyond the arch.
Things came to a head midway through the half with a scuffle occurred after a rebounding foul on Bradshaw, which led to foul total dead ball fouls being assessed to Dillingham, Bradshaw and Tennessee’s Jordan Gainey and Tobe Awaka.
With under eight minutes left to play, little had changed with the Cats trailing by 12.
The Wildcats refused to roll over and die, however, with Dillingham continuing to nail shots to get back within seven with just over five minutes left to play.
The final effort would prove to be for not as the Vols quickly extended the lead back to double digits and became the third team in a row to drop 90+ inside Rupp Arena with Kentucky never leading at any point in the contest.
Kentucky will return to action on Tuesday, Feb. 6, when it hits the road to face Vanderbilt inside Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville. Tip-off against the Commodores is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. and will air live on the SEC Network.
