Game Notes: Kentucky 63, No. 5 Tennessee 56

Below are postgame notes from Kentucky's astonishing 63-56 victory over the No. 5 Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday afternoon in Knoxville: 

Team Records and Series Notes

• Kentucky is now 11-6 on the season, 2-3 in the Southeastern Conference.
• Tennessee is 14-3, 4-1 in conference play.
• Kentucky holds a 159-77 advantage in the all-time series, including 58-53 in Knoxville.
• Next for UK: on Tuesday, the Wildcats host Georgia at 9 p.m. at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center.

Team Notes

• Kentucky opened with a starting lineup of Cason Wallace, CJ Fredrick, Chris Livingston, Jacob Toppin and Oscar Tshiebwe for the first time this year.
• Sahvir Wheeler (left shoulder) and Daimion Collins (left foot) missed the game with injuries. Both are considered day-to-day.
• The game marked the first time in history an unranked Kentucky team beat an Associated Press top-five team on the road.
• Kentucky outrebounded Tennessee, 43-23. The Volunteers came into the game second in the conference and fifth nationally with 41.06 rebounds per game.
• It marked the third time this season that Tennessee was outrebound. The previous largest rebounding differential for a Volunteers’ opponent was 47-38 by Colorado in a 78-66 Buffaloes’ victory.
• The plus-20 rebounding margin for the Cats tied for the second highest of the season. UK was plus-20 in the win over South Carolina State and a season-best plus-21 against Bellarmine.
• Since the start of the 2011-12 season, UK has now won six games while shooting less than 36% from the field. The previous win was in a 66-61 win over Georgia on Dec. 31, 2017.
• The Wildcats connected on 22 of 25 free throws for an 88.0% clip. The percentage and number of makes both marked season highs.
• Kentucky held a 12-4 advantage in second-chance points and 24-13 lead in bench scoring.
• The game featured 13 lead changes and eight ties.
• The eight-point deficit was the largest overcome by the Wildcats this season. Kentucky previously trailed by six against Bellarmine and Michigan in victories.
• The win snapped a two-game losing streak against the Volunteers.
• It also snapped a three-game skid for Kentucky away from Rupp Arena this season.
• UK limited the Volunteers to 56 points. The Cats are now 210-10 under John Calipari when limiting the opponent to 63 points or fewer, including 8-1 this season.

Player Notes

• Oscar Tshiebwe had 15 points and a game-high 13 rebounds and his SEC-best 10th double-double of the season.
• Tshiebwe has 38 double-doubles in 49 career games for UK, including five of his last six contests.
• He entered the game second in the nation with 13.1 boards per contest.
• CJ Fredrick played a season-high 37 minutes, pouring in 13 points while connecting on three 3-pointers.
• Antonio Reeves scored a team-high 18 points, his 12th double-figure game of the season.
• The contest marked the sixth time this season Reeves led the team in scoring.
• Reeves was a perfect 8-for-8 from the free-throw line.
• After missing the South Carolina game with an injury, Jacob Toppin went for five points, eight boards and a season-best five assists.
• Adou Thiero played 13 minutes, making all four of his free-throws and adding a pair of steals.

Coach John Calipari

• Calipari is 20-15 against the Volunteers.
• Calipari has an 821-247 all-time on-court record and is 376-107 in 14 seasons at UK.
• The win moved Calipari to within four wins of passing Harry Rabenhorst (178) for sixth-most SEC regular-season wins in league history.
• The win improved UK’s record against ranked foes under Calipari to 68-47.

In the First Half

• Tennessee connected on four of its first five shots to take on 8-0 less than three minutes into the contest, but the Wildcats responded with a 13-2 run, including eight from Fredrick, over 4:03 to take a three-point lead at the 11:26 mark.
• The teams went back and forth for much of the rest of the half but after the game was tied at 23, Kentucky would go on a 10-3 run over the final 3:33 to take a 33-26 advantage into the break.
• Fredrick led the Cats with 10 points in the first 20 minutes while Tshiebwe went for eight points and eight boards.
• Kentucky held a 22-10 lead on the glass, including 9-2 on the offensive boards, in the opening stanza.

In the Second Half

• The Cats went cold offensively to open the second half, connecting on two of their first 11 attempts from the field before a Tyreke Key 3-pointer for the Vols evened the score at 41 with 10:26 remaining.
• A Zakai Zeigler layup with 9:30 left to play gave Tennessee a 43-41 lead but a 3-pointer and a jumper by Reeves turned the tide in favor of the Wildcats at 46-43 with 7:54 remaining.
• A pair of Key free throws knotted the game at 48-48 but a 10-2 Wildcat run, kicked off by a Fredrick 3-pointer and capped by a pair of free throws from Reeves, gave Kentucky a 58-50 advantage with 3:26 remaining.
• However, the Volunteers again wouldn’t go away, using a 6-0 run, including back-to-back buckets from Uros Plavsic, to trim the Kentucky lead to 58-56 with 1:08 left to play.
• After a Wildcats turnover, the Vols had a pair of chances at the rim but were unable to convert as Tshiebwe came down with the board. Tshiebwe connected on 1-of-2 at the line and, after another stop, Reeves and Toppin each hit a pair to cap the 63-56 win.

MORE ON THE WIN IN KNOXVILLE HERE.

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