Offense, defense were lackluster as Kentucky drops another to Tennessee

Since arriving at Tennessee, Rick Barnes is 9-7 against Kentucky. The Wildcats have not swept the Vols in a decade following the 76-63 loss on Tuesday night and have now lost three of the last five meetings at Thompson-Boling Arena by double-digits. Kentucky was lucky to get out of the arena with just a 13-point defeat.

Both sides of the floor let the Wildcats down, and now Auburn has a wide-open runway to win their second regular-season SEC title in five years. Meanwhile, Kentucky is now locked in a tie with Tennessee for second place in the league and is in danger of getting the dreaded three-seed with the late-night game on Friday at the SEC Tournament.

However, there is a lot of ball left before we get to that point. For now, KSR is going to dive into the box score and pull out the numbers that told the story in Kentucky’s fifth loss of the season.

First half defense is blistered

Kentucky’s defense made the road trip to Tennessee with momentum. The Wildcats had seemed to turn a corner since the Auburn loss on Jan. 22 and held six consecutive opponents to under one point per possession during their most recent winning streak.

That was snapped on Tuesday night thanks to a lackluster performance from the defense to begin the game.

The Vols are a good offensive team, but this is a group that has had issues consistently scoring the basketball. Tennessee doesn’t have a clear go-to scorer and lacks a consistent post threat to get easy buckets in the paint.

Yet, Kentucky let the home team get anything they wanted in the first half.

Tennessee headed to the locker room with 46 points while scoring 1.35 points per possession. The Vols got 29 combined points on 14 field goal attempts from backcourt mates Kennedy Chandler and Santiago Vescovi. The duo entered the night averaging a combined 26.9 points per game.

Elsewhere, Tennessee got out on the break for 14 transition points and had 13 assists on 17 field goals while keeping turnovers in check. With the offense struggling, Kentucky dug a deep hole thanks to this lackluster performance on the defensive end.

Two-point efficiency disappears

Entering the game, Kentucky ranked No. 31 nationally in two-point percentage (54.6%). In the 107-79 victory over Tennessee at Rupp Arena, the Wildcats shot over 71 percent from two in one of the best offensive performances of the season.

That all changed at Thompson-Boling Arena.

The Wildcats were just 18 of 51 (35.3%) from two against the Vols with an 11 of 28 mark on shots at the rim. Typical buckets for Kentucky turned into bricks and this inefficiency led to droughts in the first half and second half that went on for around 20 minutes of game action. Kentucky went on a 10-plus minute scoring drought in the first half from the 13:57 mark that lasted until the 3:02 mark. In that time, a 17-15 lead turned into a 39-25 deficit. That plus-16 margin was the ultimate difference in the game.

Scoring droughts are unfortunately becoming a common occurrence for this offense. That needs to be eliminated for this team to reach its ceiling.

Lack of ball security on offense spoils rally

After a bad first half, Kentucky was able to tighten the screws on defense in the last 20 minutes. The Wildcats held Tennessee to 0.97 points per possession after halftime and 14 of those points came at the free throw line as Kentucky got aggressive late. The Vols were just 5 of 17 from two and were limited to just two offensive rebounds.

Even as Kentucky labored on the other end, the Wildcats went on a 13-7 run to begin the half to cut the lead to eight heading to the under-12 media timeout. However, everything fell apart due to an inability to hold onto the basketball.

After 18 possessions, Kentucky had seven turnovers and would finish the second half with a 25.7 percent turnover rate. For the game, the Wildcats had a turnover rate of 20.3 percent. Ball security had not been an issue, but the offense struggled with a Tennessee defense that ranks No. 3 nationally in steal percentage (14.3%).

With some better ball security, the game could have gone in a different direction in the second half.

Stats that stood out

• With Oscar Tshiebwe struggling from the floor and TyTy Washington hobbled, Kentucky needed answers from other places. Keion Brooks Jr. seemed like a logical option to give the team that, but the junior did not have his best stuff. Brooks scored eight points in 21 minutes but was just 1 of 6 from the floor. Kentucky needed more scoring punch and the veteran four-man was unable to provide it.
• Overall, it was a pretty ugly day for Kentucky’s backcourt. Sahvir Wheeler, Kellan Grady, and Davion Mintz combined to score 25 points on offense but needed 31 shots to get there. The trio had six turnovers and was totally outplayed by a Tennessee three-headed backcourt that went for 49 points on 29 field goal attempts.
• Oscar Tshiebwe finished the night with 13 points and 15 rebounds but needed 15 shots to get there in 29 minutes. However, Tennessee went on their big run with the big man on the bench in the first half. After Kentucky trimmed the lead to eight, Tshiebwe again had to go to the sideline after picking up a third foul early in the second half. In the 11 minutes he was off the floor, Tennessee was plus-12 making up the difference in the game. Tshiebwe’s presence was greatly missed.
• After blitzing Tennessee in transition in the last meeting, the Vols adjusted on defense and did a great job on containing Sahvir Wheeler. Tennessee had more fast break points (16-14) and did an excellent job protecting the rim. With just an average shooting night from three, Kentucky’s offense had no answers for this top-five defense.