Tennessee just made history against the Kentucky Wildcats
The Tennessee Volunteers just went into Rupp Arena and put up 103 (one hundred and three) points. It hasn’t been a secret that Kentucky has been horrendous on defense this year, but what the Vols did on Saturday night was historic. Kentucky hadn’t given up 100 points in an SEC game since 1993. The Vols are the third team EVER to score 100 points in Rupp Arena. This is the 5th time in 238 tries that Tennessee has scored 100 points against the Wildcats. Let all that sink in for a second. The Vols who scored 59 points a mere 4 days ago just put together an offensive masterpiece in their biggest game of the year so far.
The most encouraging thing about this performance from the Vols though is that it was not a one-man show. Dalton Knecht only had 16 points, but other Vols stepped up to carry the load. Zakai Ziegler scored 26 points and had 13 assists. Josiah-Jordan James had his best game as a Vol, scoring 26 points as well. Santiago Vescovi was 3-4 from three as he scored 11 points. Jonas Aidoo had another double-double with 11 points and 11 boards. The Vols looked like a well-oiled machine on offense because they played as a team and every single player exuded confidence. The Vols have been capable of a team effort like this all season, and luckily for Vol Nation it came against the Troglodytes in Lexington.
Kentucky may be awful on defense, but on offense, they are the cream of the crop in college basketball. The Vols survived several Kentucky runs throughout the game that a less experienced team would have succumbed to and lost the lead. Most of these runs were spearheaded by a tremendous performance from Kentucky’s Rob Dillingham who poured in 35 points. Even with a sold-out Rupp filled with Big Blue Nation, the Vols continued to answer every single push that Kentucky made. Eventually, the inevitable rivalry moment happened too. Tobe Awaka was getting under Kentucky’s skin in the second half by being physical and grabbing multiple offensive rebounds that drew fouls. This eventually led to a scuffle where Aaron Bradshaw two hand shoved Awaka in the back, and then all hell broke loose as Awaka went face to face with Bradshaw before being separated by the officials. After a 10-minute delay, 4 technicals were given out between the teams. Needless to say, Awaka put in some good minutes on Saturday night, and if the refs weren’t able to get in between them I think Awaka would've ended Bradshaw’s miserable existence. I guess when you only score 2 points in the whole game like Bradshaw you tend to get a little upset.
If you are reading this as a Tennessee basketball fan and don’t realize that this is the most healthy the program has ever been you are being stupid and dumb. Rick Barnes secured his 4th win in Rupp Arena as Tennessee’s coach on Saturday night. To put that into perspective, the Vols had 4 wins total in Rupp from 1976 to 2015. The Vols are unbeatable if they click like they did against the Wildcats, and with an easier stretch of games in the next 3 weeks this might be the performance that the Vols replicate to separate themselves from the pack in the SEC.
Oh and one last thing BAAAAAAACCCCCKKKKKKK TO THE COAL MINESSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!