The Tennessee Basketball Volunteers will host their arch-rival the Kentucky Wildcats tonight in TBA. Tennessee lost in a valiant effort to top-ranked Auburn on the road in their last outing, and Kentucky suffered the same fate Tennessee did as they fell victim to Vandy’s “Memorial Magic”. Two hungry teams looking to build their resumes back up is enough to make this a fun match-up. Add on the fact that these teams hate each other and it should be a recipe for an entertaining watch.

Tennessee has the benefit of being the home team here, but it won’t matter much if they shoot as poorly as they did down on the plains. It’s a real shame that Tennessee's elite defensive performance in holding a top offense in Auburn to 53 points was all for naught. The good news is Kentucky is nowhere near as good as Auburn right now offensively with all the injuries that seem to be piling up for the Wildcats. Starting guard for Kentucky Lamont Butler was ruled out Monday evening with a shoulder injury and forward Andrew Carr was also listed as questionable for tonight’s game. Butler does the bulk of the ball handling for the Wildcats when he is in the game and Andrew Carr is a huge presence for Kentucky in the paint. Even with Butler and Carr possibly both being out for the game in Knoxville tonight the Wildcats can still put up a lot of points if Tennessee falls asleep defensively. Koby Brea is one of the best shooters from beyond the arc in the SEC. Otega Oweh leads Kentucky in scoring with 16.9 points a game. Jaxson Robinson is another guy fully capable of going for 20+ points. Amari Williams could also cause some trouble for Tennessee with his offensive rebounding capabilities. The point is Tennessee will need a good defensive effort no matter what is going down for Tennessee on the other half of the court.

Speaking of the other half of the court, I think this is where the game gets decided—the stoppable force vs. the movable object. Tennessee’s offense vs. Kentucky’s defense. Tennessee has the second-worst offense in the SEC and Kentucky has the second-worst defense in the SEC. This game will come down to whichever team bucks that trend, and I think it will be the Vols. Tennessee in conference play has scored 76 against Arkansas, 74 against Georgia, and 68 against Mississippi State at home. All three of those teams have better defenses than Kentucky to this point as well. Tennessee also held each of those opponents to 56 points or lower. Will Kentucky score more than 56 points? Yes, most likely. Will Tennessee score around 70 again facing a horrendous defense? Yes, most likely.

Kentucky seems to have too steep of a hill to climb in this game. No Lamont Butler, possibly no Andrew Carr and if he does play he won’t be 100%, and going on the road against an elite defense. Tennessee has a nice opportunity here to steal a win against a banged-up Kentucky team at home and they better take advantage. Play at your desired pace, hit enough of the many open looks Kentucky’s porous defense will give you, and get out of there with a win.

Prediction

Tennessee - 71

Kentucky - 64