KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee men’s basketball team built a 17-point lead late in the first half Saturday afternoon against Kentucky, but dropped an 80-78 decision at a sold-out Food City Center.
Senior guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie paced all scorers with 24 points for No. 24/RV Tennessee (12-6, 2-3 SEC) in a contest it did not trail until the final minute.
The Volunteers scored 11 consecutive early points over just 2:16 to grab a 12-point advantage, 20-8, after just 6:14 of action. Kentucky (12-6, 3-2 SEC) responded by making three straight shots, including two from deep, to post an 8-2 surge in 78 seconds and get within six, 22-16, at the 11:55 mark.
Tennessee quickly answered and, buoyed by seven consecutive points in 66 seconds, claimed a 36-20 edge with 6:49 to go in the frame. It was 5-of-8 from deep at that time, including a 3-of-4 clip from Gillespie who then had 14 points.
The Volunteers, aided by forcing five misses in a row and not allowing a field goal for 7:32, pushed their margin to a game-best 17, 41-24, with 3:25 on the timer. Kentucky scored seven unanswered points in 57 seconds to get their deficit to 10 with 1:43 left, but a Tennessee free throw ended the first-half scoring and made it 42-31 at the break. The home team shot 6-of-13 (46.2 percent) on 3-pointers in the opening session and tallied an 8-1 cushion on the offensive glass.
After Tennessee started the second-half scoring, Kentucky went on an 11-4 run—it featured back-to-back 3-pointers by senior guard Denzel Aberdeen—in 3:14 to climb within six, 48-42, with 15:12 to play. The visitors continued to chip away from there and cut the margin to four, 55-51, on a 3-pointer with 11:53 remaining. That was the first of three straight possessions with a made long-range shot for Kentucky, all of which trimmed the deficit to four.
The Wildcats moved to 11-of-22 from deep on a shot by senior guard Otega Oweh, his first field goal of the game after seven misses, with 7:52 to go to make it a three-point game, 65-62. A three-point play on their next trip down the floor, after a Tennessee basket, made it 67-65 just 29 ticks later.
Tennessee scored eight of the next 12 points to pull ahead by a half-dozen, 75-69, with 4:54 on the clock, but the Wildcats answered with six of the next seven to make it 76-75 with 1:46 left.
Kentucky took its first lead of the game, 78-77, on a layup by Oweh with 34 seconds left. He missed the and-one free throw, but the Wildcats got the rebound and scored to go up by three, 80-77, with 16 ticks to go.
Gillespie hit a free throw with two seconds left and intentionally missed the second, but the ball bounced around until the clock hit triple-zeroes.
In addition to leading all players in scoring, Gillespie also did so in assists by notching eight, one shy of his season best. He finished 6-of-12 from the floor, 4-of-7 beyond the arc and 8-of-12 at the stripe.
Freshman forward Nate Ament finished with 17 points for the Volunteers, 14 of which came after halftime. He went 8-of-9 from the free-throw line.
Aberdeen scored 22 points for the Wildcats, including 18 during a second half in which he was 7-of-10 from the floor, with a 3-of-5 long-range mark. Oweh scored 12 points despite going 3-of-11 from the field, 1-of-5 on 3-pointers and 5-of-9 at the line.
Sophomore guard Colin Chandler recorded 12 points on a 4-of-6 clip from beyond the arc. Freshman guard Jasper Johnson tallied 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting, all in a first half when he made his first five attempts. Junior forward Mouhamed Dioubate chipped in 10 points and a co-team-high six rebounds for Kentucky.
The Wildcats had a 13-8 advantage in offensive rebounds in the second half and, ultimately, finished with a 19-7 cushion in second-chance points. That proved key, as the two sides amassed nearly identical shooting clips.
Tennessee had a 47.2 percent (25-of-53) ledger from the field, a 42.1 percent (8-of-19) mark beyond the arc and a 69.0 percent (20-of-29) tally at the line. Kentucky, meanwhile, shot 47.5 percent (28-of-59) on field goals, a 45.8 percent (11-of-24) count on 3-pointers and a 61.9 percent (13-of-21) ledger from the stripe.
The Volunteers now have a midweek bye before resuming play Saturday at 8:30 p.m. at No. 18 Alabama, live on ESPN or ESPN2 from Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
