Grant Williams, No. 7 Tennessee Blow Out No. 4 Kentucky 71-52

The No. 7 Tennessee Volunteers remained atop the SEC on Saturday with a 71-52 blowout win over the No. 4 Kentucky Wildcats at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tennessee.

With the win, Tennessee avenged an 86-69 road loss to Kentucky last month that knocked it from the No. 1 ranking. The Volunteers are now 26-3 on the season and tied for first with LSU in the SEC at 14-2, while the Wildcats are 24-5 overall and 13-3 in the conference.

Junior forward Grant Williams and junior guard Jordan Bone led the way for Tennessee on Saturday, as they finished with 24 points and seven rebounds, and 27 points and three assists, respectively.

Kentucky's stars didn't fare nearly as well in what was a miserable shooting performance from the Wildcats. Sophomore forward PJ Washington registered 13 points and three rebounds, and freshman guard Keldon Johnson ended up with seven points and seven rebounds.

Overall, the Wildcats shot just 31.8 percent from the field and 26.3 percent from deep, while the Vols shot 43.5 percent from the field and 36.4 percent from long range.

Kentucky was also thoroughly dominated by Tennessee in the paint with Reid Travis missing his third consecutive game because of a knee sprain.

Tennessee owned a 37-24 lead at halftime that was owed in part to a 16-2 run during a nearly seven-minute stretch. Among the highlights for Tennessee during that run was this monster jam from senior guard Admiral Schofield:

The 24 points scored by the Wildcats were their fewest in a single half this season.

Their struggles in the first seemed to carry over into the second, as Tennessee was able to extend its lead over the first several minutes. The Volunteers went on a 10-3 run to start the second half and led by as many as 20.

Kentucky simply couldn't find enough rhythm on offense to hang with Tennessee, and the Wildcats are now in danger of missing out on the regular-season SEC crown.

Grant Williams Deserves National Player of the Year Consideration

Williams often gets lost in the shuffle when it comes to the Naismith College Player of the Year conversation, but after coming up big once again in a huge game Saturday, the narrative needs to change.

The 6'7", 236-pound big man proved too much for Kentucky to handle in the paint, as he managed to get to the free-throw line on 11 occasions.

That has been one of Williams' greatest assets this season even if it isn't an ability that generally draws a ton of praise, as pointed out by Seth Davis of CBS Sports:

Williams gets criticized at times because of the notion that he flops and exaggerates contact in order to get to the line, but there is no question that Tennessee is better for whatever he does to draw fouls. Kent Spencer of WHAS said as much Saturday:

Williams is also a quality rebounder, and he showed during the win over Kentucky that he can do more than the typical big man. His smooth passing was also on display, especially when he found Jordan Bowden for an alley-oop that had whipped Volunteers fans into a frenzy.

Grant Ramey of 247Sports pointed out that Williams' pass may have elicited the loudest reaction to ever emanate from Thompson-Boling Arena:

As the emotional and statistical leader of one of the top teams in college basketball, Williams should be mentioned in the same breath as players like the Duke freshman combo of Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett or Marquette's Markus Howard more often.

Williams has the type of profile to look for in the College Player of the Year, as he was named SEC Player of the Year last year, although he doesn't have the benefit of being viewed as a blue-chip prospect when he entered the college ranks.

If Williams can secure another SEC Player of the Year award this season as expected, he will become the first player to do it in back-to-back years in nearly 25 years, per Matt Norlander of CBS Sports:

Williams was lightly recruited by power-conference schools, and there was almost no hype surrounding him when he came to Tennessee unlike players like Williamson and Barrett this year.

If anything, Williams deserves some added credit for overcoming that stigma and developing into one of college basketball's best players.

Williams also showed great resilience against Kentucky on Saturday. In the first meeting between the teams this season, Williams only attempted four shots from the field and didn't do enough to keep his team in the lead.

He did more than enough Saturday, and he is a big reason why the Vols control their own destiny when it comes to winning a share of the SEC title. 

Kentucky Needs More from Keldon Johnson to Make Deep Tourney Run

The 2018-19 season started off promisingly for Johnson, but over the past month or more, he has been among Kentucky's most inconsistent players.

It didn't often matter prior to Saturday because of the strong play of Washington, but with Washington struggling against Tennessee as well, Johnson's poor play was exposed.

The talented freshman has shot under 40 percent in four consecutive games, and he has made just one three-pointer during that stretch as well. Earlier in the season, Johnson's three-point stroke was regularly helping Kentucky win games against teams like Utah and North Carolina.

He was off at both ends of the floor Saturday, and Matt Jones of KentuckySportsRadio.com pointed out that several of his teammates followed suit:

Johnson went 2-for-9 from the field overall Saturday, and he made just one of his five attempts from beyond the arc.

Nothing was falling for any Kentucky player against Tennessee, as all five starters shot poorly and struggled to find their stroke. That will happen at times, but it has been an issue far too often for Johnson recently.

Chris Fisher of 247Sports noted that there is an element of selfishness to Johnson's game:

That can be a good thing when he is hitting his shots, but he has settled for too many bad looks over the past few games. That has put the Wildcats in some difficult spots, and they couldn't dig out of the hole they made for themselves Saturday.

Kentucky is an athletic and talented team from top to bottom, and it has a legitimate chance to compete for a national title if it is playing its best basketball.

The Wildcats can't afford to lean entirely on Washington, though, which is something it has done as of late. If Johnson can't work through this slump and resume being one of Kentucky's best shooters, the Wildcats may not have enough from beyond the arc to be a true threat in the tournament.

What's Next?

Tennessee will host the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Tuesday before closing out its regular-season slate on March 9 against the Auburn Tigers on the road.

Meanwhile, Kentucky will face the Ole Miss Rebels away from home Tuesday, and then host the Florida Gators in its final game of the regular season.