Kentucky Wildcats Prove Tough at Home, Prepare To Pounce on Tennessee Vols

Kentucky, having looked down into the face of adversity after losing to South Carolina on the road, has responded with four double-digit victories over SEC opponents.

With rivalry week comes upsets and heartache, but the Wildcats (22-1, 7-1) have escaped the trenches thus far. Their latest escape was a 66-55 win against the Crimson Tide at home.

The Cats did it all the same by beating the Tide on the boards (40-29) and getting to the line 31 times compared to the Tide’s 10 attempts—which all came in the second half.

Kentucky scored under 70 points for only the fourth time this season because of the poor outside shooting. The team was only 3-for-16 beyond the arc.

The upside came from the resurgence of John Wall, who took control of the game’s pace, scoring 22 points and 10 rebounds for his first such double-double of the season.

The downside also came from Wall, who had five turnovers in the first half and three quick giveaways to begin the game.

Wall had six of Kentucky’s 16 total turnovers, but that’s what happens when you play at the pace the Cats do because it goes both ways: they also created seven steals and five blocks. 

Now that it seems Calipari has his boys back on track, Kentucky will prepare for its toughest matchup thus far against Tennessee.

The No. 12 Volunteers (18-5, 6-3) might have been caught looking ahead toward the Wildcat game this Saturday (Feb. 13th), as they lost their fourth game on the road to No. 24 Vanderbilt, who beat Tennessee for the second consecutive time this season. Now Tennessee has to go on the road in a hectic Rupp Arena environment.

The Cats are 15-0 in their homely confines, having beaten SEC opponents by an average of 15 points.

Tennessee’s 90-71 loss to Vanderbilt was precipitated by the fact that the team got out-rebounded 40-26 and allowed the Commodores to reach the line a horrendous 43 times.

This is exactly how the Wildcats beat down their opponents—by reaching the line 20-plus times in seven straight games and out-rebounding their opponents 168-101 in the past four games.

After letting Commodore guards Jeffery Taylor and Jermaine Beal combine for 46 points and 20 free-throw attempts, Tennessee will be challenged to slow down guards John Wall and Eric Bledsoe if they want any chance of winning.

Tennessee hopes to keep it a tight, low-scoring game, as their offense has struggled of late, unable to reach 80 points in the past eight games.   

The key for Kentucky is to shoot the ball effectively from beyond the arc and boss up on the boards.

Kentucky is the better team, and Bruce Pearl knows this, so he will get his boys to come out and play an-overly physical game to try and get under the skin and in the heads of the young Cats.

If Wall, Bledsoe, and Cousins can sustain the physicality and play their game by attacking the basket, they should maintain their stretch of double-digit wins at home against SEC opponents.