DAVID SISK:

Tonight was a perfect storm for Tennessee. Knoxville has been a tough place to OK in the best of circumstances. The Vols were lying in wait after the beat down in Lexington, and with TyTy Washington a non-factor because of an injury the Vols were a tough nut to crack. Washington is the only Kentucky perimeter player who can create his own shot. Tennessee exposed that with its perimeter quickness and tenacity. The emergence of Zakai Ziegler along with Kennedy Chandler has made that a top-notch backcourt. Overall it just never seemed like Kentucky could get comfortable. Now it’s time to reload, but priority number one is for Washington to get healthy.

JUSTIN ROWLAND:

My first reaction after a game like this on the road is to shrug unless it's a pattern on the road. When you throw in that TyTy Washington couldn't finish the game and Jacob Toppin seemed banged up at times, that didn't help. Without Washington you could tell the creation on offense was more difficult. Tennessee did a good job of neutralizing Wheeler's quickness and he didn't have a lot of great places to go with the ball. I think Tennessee's No. 6 KenPom defense was probably widely undersold. On its home court, on its best night, a defense of that caliber is capable of doing that even to a normally great offense. Tennessee played at an extremely high level and Rick Barnes obviously has a great track record against UK, last meeting aside. Overall this does not change my opinion that Kentucky is in the top handful of national contenders but you want to see them bounce back quickly and Washington is definitely a concern. That's the big thing hanging over them right now.

JEFF DRUMMOND:

We probably should have seen this one coming, but we may have let visions of the Cats' 107-79 win at Rupp Arena cloud our judgment when it comes to playing in the deathtrap that Knoxville, Tenn., can often be for Kentucky. This was one of those nights, and the Vols were obviously motivated to avenge the beating they took in Lexington. They played harder, faster, tougher than the Cats did. I think it was probably as simple as that. Kentucky is probably fortunate it wasn't worse (and a bigger blow to their positioning for seeding going into March Madness) because it played 10:55 of the first half without a bucket and went 7:14 of the second half with just one. That's almost half the game with only one field goal by one of the best offensive teams in the country. You have to give credit to the Vols for being physical -- and getting away with the rough play -- while doing everything possible to keep UK from getting into its potent fast-break offense.