The rubber match was all-orange.
After Kentucky and Tennessee traded blowout wins in their home-and-home series during the regular season, the Volunteers backed up their decisive win in Knoxville with another strong showing on Saturday in the SEC Tournament semifinals.
Tennessee (25-7) held the Wildcats to 34% shooting for the second straight game en route to a 69-62 win at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla.
"It was exactly what both teams thought it would be, just a hard-fought game from start to finish," Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said. "Both teams played so hard defensively, and baskets were just hard to come by."
"Tennessee did a great job," Kentucky coach John Calipari said. "They fought. We had our changes, but we didn't shoot the ball particularly well today. Some of that was us, some of that was Tennessee, but we had our chances, and it shows that they didn't let go of the rope. It shows what their coach is about, what their team is about."
The Vols will advance to play Texas A&M in the championship game on Sunday.
With a potential No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament hanging in the balance, Kentucky (26-7) had perhaps its worst offensive performance of the season. In addition to their overall shooting struggles, the Cats were 2-for-20 from the 3-point arc.
The UK backcourt of Sahvir Wheeler, TyTy Washington, Kellen Grady, and Davion Mintz combined to go 10-for-41 from the field.
Meanwhile, the Tennessee backcourt was rock-solid once again. Kennedy Chandler led the way with 19 points, while Zakai Zeigler and Santiago Vescovi added 11 and nine, respectively. The Vols also got 10 points from wing Josiah Jordan-James.
Kentucky trailed 33-22 at the half. The Cats fought back within six with 5:34 remaining, but the Vols quickly countered with a 6-0 spurt to push the lead back to 12.
An 11-2 run by Kentucky got the margin down to 65-62 with 1:31 to go, but the Cats could not come up with another point the rest of the way while the Vols clinched the win by hitting four of six at the free-throw line.
Junior forward Keion Brooks led UK with 19 points. Washington added 17, but it came on a 6-for-16 shooting night and just 1-of-7 from 3-point range.
National player of the year candidate Oscar Tshiebwe posted his 27th double-double of the season with 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Cats, but played only 25 minutes and fouled out with 3:37 remaining in the game.
*****
In this "Rapid Recap" feature, we touch on some quick-hitters from the UK game...
KEY MOMENT:
There seemed to be quite a few of these "key moments" during the afternoon -- a sign of Kentucky constantly struggling to claw its way back in the game -- but the main one that stood out in John Calipari's mind was after UK scored six straight to cut the deficit in half at 55-49 with 5:34 remaining. After a Tennessee timeout to calm the Vols down, Kentucky immediately got beat on a backdoor layup by Kennedy Chandler, turned the ball over for a free throw as Oscar Tshiebwe fouled out, and gave up a 3-pointer to Zakai Zeigler. In the blink of an eye, it was a 12-point game again. It was a sequence that Calipari would later say cannot happen in an NCAA Tournament game if you want to win a championship.
GAME BALL:
Kennedy Chandler, Tennessee - The Vols' savvy guard has been a major headache for the Cats in the last two matchups between the teams. Each time momentum seemed to be swinging in UK's direction on Saturday, the freshman guard seemed to come up with a big play, whether it was a basket of his own, an assist to a teammate, or a steal on defense.
BY THE NUMBERS:
1st - Time this season that Kentucky has failed to score 80 points in three straight games.
2 - Made 3-pointers by the Wildcats on 20 attempts.
10-7 - Rick Barnes' record vs. Kentucky as Tennessee head coach.
17-1 - Bench scoring advantage for Vols. Davion Mintz had the lone point off the UK bench.
22 - Season-low halftime points for UK.
34% - FG percentage for UK in its last two games against UT after shooting 68% in the first meeting.
42-4 - UK's all-time record in the SEC Tournament semifinals.
QUOTABLE:
"We're going into the tournament, and there ain't a lot of teams that want to play us, but this wasn't one of our best efforts." -- UK coach John Calipari
UP NEXT:
Kentucky awaits its placement in the NCAA Tournament field on Sunday evening at 6 p.m. ET. Most projections have the Cats with a No. 2 seed.
