Kentucky's 11-minute first-half drought spelled early doom vs. Tennessee

Kentucky’s loss to Tennessee can be explained through one single stretch of the game — it just happened to be a really long stretch…

The No. 4 Wildcats fell on the road to the No. 16 Volunteers on Tuesday night, losing 76-63 in a contest that was never truly close. Kentucky actually jetted out to an early 8-2 lead, but that was all the optimism the night would provide. At the 13:57 mark of the first half, Jacob Toppin made a tough layup to put UK ahead 17-15. Unfortunately, that was the last Wildcat field goal for nearly 11 minutes of action.

It wasn’t until there was 3:02 left in the half — nearly 11 minutes later — that Kentucky finally made a bucket. Granted, the ‘Cats managed to hit seven free throws during that time to avoid a complete collapse, but the mental damage had already been done. A two-point UK lead turned into a 15-point hole before Davion Mintz finally put an end to the drought with a 3-pointer.

To make matters worse, Oscar Tshiebwe sat for two and a half minutes during the extended drought. Not long after checking back in, he picked up his second foul with 5:49 left until the intermission. He played just 12 first-half minutes.

With Kentucky’s star big man on the bench for the rest of the half, TyTy Washington clearly hampered by his leg injury, and Kellan Grady looking completely lost, there wasn’t much the ‘Cats could do to overcome the Volunteers’ downpour. During that 10:55 first-half span, Kentucky missed 12 consecutive shots while allowing Tennessee to shoot 9-18 from the floor. UK went into the break trailing by 14 and would eventually lose by 13.

Those near 11 minutes ultimately decided the outcome.

Kentucky just completely out of sorts in Knoxville.

— Jack Pilgrim (@JackPilgrimKSR) February 16, 2022

“What it appeared to me is they needed it more, wanted it more, more physical, took us out of stuff physically, and then physically banged us around offensively too,” UK head coach John Calipari said postgame. “They deserved to win.”

Tennessee initially sparked its devastating run following a minor scuffle on the Kentucky bench. Just 15 seconds after Toppin’s aforementioned layup put UK up by two, a pair of technical fouls were handed out to UT’s Zakai Zeigler and Wildcats’ strength coach Rob Harris. After a Volunteer player crash-landed near the end of the Kentucky bench, his teammates came rushing over. Amongst the crowd, a couple of light shoves on Harris from Tennesse players promoted the coach to push back, which is a pretty big no-no, even if done in retaliation.

The technicals would offset, but the momentum had been swung. The crowd at Thompson Bowling Arena was on the brink of an explosion as a 17-1 Tennessee run immediately broke out.

“Defensively today we weren’t where we were supposed to be,” Toppin said postgame. “We’re a very good defensive team and tonight we didn’t show that. There’s no way we should have let them go on a 17-1 run. But it’s part of basketball, we learn from it, go back and watch film, and get better.”

Kentucky did its best to cut into the Tennessee lead in the second half, even trimming it down to eight for a couple of possessions. But without Washington and off-nights from a few key players, the effort was all for not as the Vols always found a way to bust its lead back open.