By SCOTT FELTS
It was a rough Saturday afternoon for Tennessee. The Vols blew a 17-point lead, and lost 80-78 to archrival Kentucky.
Tennessee (12-6, 2-3) jumped ahead early, by substituting players frequently and forcing Kentucky (12-6, 3-2) into eight first half turnovers. Kentucky starters only scored 11 points in the first half, which ended with an 11-point Tennessee lead.
As has been the case with Kentucky this season, however, the second half was a different story. Kentucky committed only one turnover and forced the Vols into seven second half turnovers as the ‘Cats cut the lead to four at the under -2 minute timeout. After a steal from Collin Chandler, Kentucky took its first lead with 34.3 seconds left in the game en route to its second consecutive win — both comebacks of 15 or more points on the road in the SEC.
What a mess. Let’s break it down by going Beyond the Box Score.
O for Otega: Senior guard Otega Oweh, the SEC preseason player of the year, had scored 20 or more points in six of his last eight and came in leading Kentucky with 15.8 points per game. However with nine minutes left, Oweh did not have a field goal or rebound and only two points. He finished the game with 12 points on 3-for-11 shooting and went 5-for-9 from the free throw line.
Rebound Whoas: The Vols’ 60 rebounds in the Tuesday night double overtime win over Texas A&M was the first time they had more than 55 since a 2008 game against UT Martin. On Saturday they outrebounded Kentucky 36–29 and 12–10 on the offensive glass. However, Kentucky outscored the Vols in second chance points, 19-7, making the most of the rebounds they captured despite not getting their first offensive rebound until three minutes left in the first half.
Double-Double Trouble: After Bishop Boswell (13 points, 11 rebounds) and Felix Okpara (10 points, 12 rebounds) both had double-doubles against Texas A&M and Jaylen Carey finished a rebound shy of his own double-double, no Tennessee player got close on Saturday against the Wildcats. Carey led all Vols with seven rebounds and had the final one with a chance to tie the game with a putback but missed, finishing a miserable 3 of 12 from the field.
A Tail of 2 Cats: Kentucky is minus-100 in the first half of power four games this season and now plus-68 in the second half. Kentucky has trailed at the half in nine games this season with a record of 4-5.
Denzel Dominates: Kentucky guard Denzel Aberdeen scored 18 of his 22 in the second half on 7–for-11 shooting and 5-for-6 shooting from the free-throw line. Aberdeen has now scored 16, 17, and 22 games in Kentucky’s last three and was almost the entire offense for the Wildcats for most of the second half.
Two on Five: The Vols only had two players in double figures with Ja’Kobi Gillespie leading the way with 24 points and Nate Ament adding 17. The ‘Cats, however, had five players in double figures with Aberdeen leading the way with 22 while Oweh, Chandler, and Jasper Johnson added 12 points apiece and Mouhamed Dioubate chipped in 10.
Tip Ins: The Vols have now lost four games under Rick Barnes when leading by 10 or more at the half and today was only the second loss in the last 101 games at Food City Center where they led by double digit points (the other, a loss to Kentucky last season). … Tennessee has more victories (79) over Kentucky than any other team with the 50 wins over Vanderbilt’s a distant second.
Up Next: The Vols have a week off before traveling to 18th ranked Alabama (13-5, 3-2) next Saturday at 8:30 PM.