Kentucky continues to own Tennessee in Knoxville

For the second game in a row, Kentucky rallied from a 17-point deficit to get a big road win. For the fourth year in a row, the Cats won in Knoxville as an underdog, making it six out of the last seven for the good guys in the Food City Center. According to Corey Price, this is the first time that Kentucky has won four consecutive games in Knoxville since 2003-06.

“It was great coming to Knoxville again,” Collin Chandler joked to open the postgame press conference. “Our team loves playing in Knoxville.”

Clearly. Today’s 80-78 win may have been the most improbable yet. Kentucky didn’t lead until the final minute, Otega Oweh making a layup on a fastbreak to put the Cats up 78-77 with 34 seconds to go. Kentucky held on for the win, a massive one that will help its NCAA Tournament resume tremendously. That seemed hard to imagine when Kentucky trailed by 17 with 3:25 to go in the first half. The Cats trimmed that margin to 11 at halftime, capitalizing on Tennessee star guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie being on the bench with two fouls.

After halftime, Kentucky slowly chipped away, Denzel Aberdeen and Collin Chandler helping dig the Cats out of the hole with five combined three-pointers. After a rough start to the game, Otega Oweh came alive, helping complete the comeback, Kentucky’s third in a row. In the last three games, Kentucky has trailed by 47 points combined. The fact that the Cats have battled back to win each of those is pretty remarkable, by far their most defining trait.

Kentucky’s win is also Tennessee’s first at home this season. Coming in, the Vols were 10-0 at home this year, and 15-0 going back to last season. In fact, according to Corey Price, Tennessee is 100-2 in their last 102 home games in which they led at halftime. The two losses? To Kentucky today and to Kentucky last season. Today is the first time in program history that Kentucky has beaten Tennessee after trailing the Vols by at least ten points at halftime. Mark Pope is undefeated in Knoxville as both a player and coach.

The Cats even made the visitors’ locker room their own afterward, celebrating the massive win by dousing Mark Pope in water. As a Tennessee resident, I truly love to see it.

Brandon Garrison goes live in the locker room pic.twitter.com/FsRJ1anWM6

— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) January 17, 2026

.@CoachMarkPope got a little wet in the locker room 😅 pic.twitter.com/glaqk4Vjft

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) January 17, 2026

Kentucky vs. Tennessee in Knoxville

Date	Result	Location
January 17, 2026	W 80–78	Knoxville, TN
January 28, 2025	W 78–73	Knoxville, TN
March 9, 2024	W 85–81	Knoxville, TN
January 14, 2023	W 63–56	Knoxville, TN
February 15, 2022	L 63–76	Knoxville, TN
February 20, 2021	W 70–55	Knoxville, TN
February 8, 2020	W 77–64	Knoxville, TN

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