Tennessee Seeks Revenge Against Kentucky
It's not often that Kentucky plays the role of a desperate team, but for the second time this season, Tennessee will play a Kentucky team that is squarely on the bubble. With the Vols down 1-0 in the season series, it will be a revenge game at Rupp Arena to try to get another quad-one win.
So let's look back on the January 14th loss that the Vols took to Kentucky. Tennessee shot 14% from three and scored 56 points. Santiago Vescovi, Tyreke Key, Zakai Zeigler, and Josiah-Jordan James all shot poorly, so it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the problem. Even if James doesn't play for a third straight game, it's unlikely that the Vescovi, Zeigler, and Key will have a 3-16 effort from three again.
On the Kentucky side, this was the game where they started to use what I like to call the survival lineup. The lineup of Cason Wallace, Antonio Reeves, C.J. Fredrick, Jacob Toppin, and Oscar Tshiebwe has saved Kentucky's season. The last time these two teams met, Tennessee outscored all other Kentucky lineups combined but struggled against the five mentioned above. They'll have a better-than-great chance if they can play equal to the survival lineup.
Tennessee didn't play a perfect game against Alabama, but after two straight losses, the way they beat Alabama was very encouraging. If Tennessee can play its game against Kentucky and get a road win, it will be fair to say that the team is back on track.
Of course, Kentucky is very good at taking care of the ball and not allowing offensive rebounds, so it's easier said than done. However, Kentucky is a very on-and-off team. If Tennessee can bring their A-game to Rupp Arena, you never know what Kentucky team you will get.
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