RECAP: Cats thump No. 1 Vols

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- With time winding down on Kentucky's impressive 86-69 shellacking of top-ranked Tennessee on Saturday night at Rupp Arena, John Calipari's mood briefly turned sour.

The Wildcats' student section tried to start the familiar "O-ver-rated" chant to mock the all-but-defeated Volunteers, but the UK head coach wasn't having it.

"No! No! Stop!" Calipari shouted, waving his arms wildly to silence the chant.

Why diminish your accomplishment, he reasoned.

"I know how good Tennessee is, and that's why I told our fans, enough of the they're overrated," Calipari said. "They're not overrated. Probably underrated. People don't realize."

And perhaps they don't realize how good No. 5 Kentucky is, either, at least on a night like this.

The Wildcats (21-4, 10-2 SEC) stayed in the hunt for the league's regular season championship by dominating the club that had won 19 straight games and had yet to lose in conference play.

Kentucky shot 55 percent from the field, held a 39-26 rebounding advantage, and led for all but 28 seconds in the first top-five matchup between the border rivals in 226 meetings.

Meanwhile, Tennessee (23-2, 11-1 SEC) was held to 41 percent shooting from the field and trailed by as many as 24 points in the second half.

“I thought they were terrific," Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said of the Cats. "I thought John had his team ready to play. They played great. I mean, look at those stat sheets. They dominated us in every way we could have been dominated."

Kentucky sophomore forward PJ Washington continued his stretch of dominant play, leading the Cats with 23 points. He got plenty of help, though, in the form of Keldon Johnson (19 points), Tyler Herro (15 points, 13 rebounds), Reid Travis (11 points, 8 rebounds) and Ashton Hagans (9 points, 7 assists).

It was a thorough team victory for the men in blue.

“It means a lot," Washington said of UK's performance. "It shows everyone that we can still play with great teams in this league and in this country."

The Cats held Tennessee's dynamic frontcourt tandem, Grant Williams and Admiral Schofield, largely in check for most of the night. They combined for 33 points, but that was under their season average of 36, and it came on 10-for-22 shooting from the field.

"That is a terrific basketball team that we beat," Calipari said. "I'm hoping we can get out of that Knoxville game (on March 2)."

*****

In this Cats Illustrated "Rapid Recap" feature, we touch on some quick-hitters from the UK victory...

THE GOOD:

It may have been the best big-game atmosphere at Rupp Arena since John Calipari arrived in Lexington. Coming off a rare home loss earlier in the week to LSU and facing the specter of a Tennessee team that was equipped to humble them even further, UK fans showed up rowdy and ready to make an impact well before tip-off. The sustained, pro-active noise in the first half was up there with some of the best in arena history.

THE BAD:

The Cats allowed a 24-point lead to be sliced to 11 in a five-minute span midway through the second half, putting a minor scare into the Big Blue faithful. This UK team is still learning how to play with big leads and how to avoid the mental lapses that let opponents back in the game.

THE UGLY:

Tennessee guards Lamonte Turner and Jordan Bowden combined to go 0-for-11 from the 3-point arc. Entering the game, they were both shooting 44 percent from deep in SEC play.

GAME BALL:

PJ Washington, Kentucky -- A lot of good performances in this game, but Washington set the tone for the Cats by scoring their first seven points of the game. He was the go-to guy all night long, hitting nine of his 12 attempts from the field for his seventh 20-point performance in the last eight games. Washington also chipped in with five rebounds, two blocked shots and two steals in an effort that could get him into the discussion for SEC Player of The Year.

BY THE NUMBERS:

1st - Kentucky player, Tyler Herro, to have at least 15 points and 13 rebounds against a No. 1 opponent.

8th - Win in program history against a No. 1 ranked opponent.

17 - Point margin of victory is the second-largest by UK over a No. 1 opponent in program history. an AP No. 1 ranked team, not the largest. The second-ranked Catsdefeated No. 1 St. John’s 81-40 on Dec. 17, 1951, for the largest margin

39-26 - UK advantage in the rebound column.

54.7% - UK's best field goal percentage in a win over a No. 1 team in program history.

155-71 - The Cats' lead in the all-time series against the Vols.

24,467 - The third-largest attendance in Rupp Arena history.

QUOTABLE:

"To have an atmosphere like that was great. There was one point in the first half I couldn’t hear. I was trying to talk to Ash (Hagans) and I couldn’t even hear myself." -- Kentucky's PJ Washington

UP NEXT:

Kentucky returns to action Tuesday at Missouri in a 9 p.m. ET tipoff on ESPN. The Tigers (12-12, 3-9 SEC) are coming off a 75-65 loss at Ole Miss.