LEXINGTON, Ky. – The No. 5/4 Tennessee men’s basketball team is primed for its second consecutive road contest, as it faces No. 15/18 Kentucky Tuesday at Rupp Arena. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. ET. Listen on 103.1FM WIKQ beginning at 6:30pm.
Fans can catch Tuesday’s game between the Volunteers (20-4, 7-4 SEC) and Wildcats (16-7, 5-5 SEC) on ESPN. Dan Shulman (play-by-play), Jay Bilas (analyst) and Molly McGrath (reporter) will have the call. Fans can also listen live on their local Vol Network affiliate to hear Bob Kesling and Bert Bertelkamp describing the action.
In its most recent action, Tennessee used a scintillating first-half shooting performance to claim a commanding lead in the opening minutes and never looked back, en route to a thorough 70-52 triumph Saturday afternoon at Oklahoma.
UT made 15 of its initial 17 field goals in its first-ever game at the Lloyd Noble Center and led by as many as 28 points in the dominant result. Fifth-year guard Chaz Lanier led the way with a game-high 21 points in the first conference matchup between the two programs.
THE MATCHUP
• The Volunteers’ 78 victoties over the Wildcats lead all teams. Vanderbilt is second with 50.
• UT’s eight wins at Rupp Arena are the second-most of any school, trailing only Florida (10). Just Alabama (seven), Arkansas (six) and LSU (six) have even five-plus.
• Rick Barnes has led UT to a 4-3 mark at Rupp Arena over the last seven years after it was 2-36 in the prior 38 seasons (1979-2017).
• UT’s 11 wins over Kentucky in Barnes’ tenure (2015-25) are five more than any other team (Auburn and Kansas have six each). That includes a 10-7 record against ranked Wildcat teams, good for twice as many such wins as anyone else (five by Kansas).
• Barnes has led UT to a 7-4 record in AP top-25 showdowns against Kentucky, including a 5-3 mark with both in the top 20.
• After posting a 23-10 (13-5) record and logging a third straight NCAA Tournament berth last year, Kentucky came in at eighth in the SEC preseason poll.
• The Wildcats are paced by junior guard Otega Oweh’s 16.0 ppg.
NEWS & NOTES
• Tennessee is 11-11 versus Kentucky under Rick Barnes with at least one victory in eight of his 10 years, including two thrice. That includes a 6-6 mark away from home.
• In the 22 seasons before Barnes’ arrival (1993-2015), UT went 9-35 against Kentucky, including 7-28 when the Wildcats were ranked.
• Barnes’ 12 wins over the Wildcats are the seventh-most all-time, one shy of Dean Smith (13). He has two more than any other active coach (Bruce Pearl with 10). More information is on Page 6.
• Over the past eight campaigns, all the Rick Barnes era, UT is 27-8 (.771) in the second leg of regular season home-and-home series.
• Rick Barnes (826) is one win away from tying John Calipari (827) for No. 10 on the all-time DI victories list and for the most such wins by an active head coach.
• Since shooting 11-of-45 (24.4 percent) on 3-pointers 1/28/25 against Kentucky, UT is 25-of-58 (43.1 percent) its last three games.
• On the defensive end, the Vols lead the nation in eFG% (42.3), FG% (36.2) and 3P% (26.6).
• Zakai Zeigler’s 645 assists are co- seventh in SEC history, matching LSU’s Kenny Higgs (1974-78). He is one behind Kentucky’s Dirk Minniefield (646 from 1979-83) for sixth and 11 shy of Georgia/ Kentucky’s Sahvir Wheeler (656 from 2019-23) for fifth.
• Zeigler’s 1,348 points put him 17 behind Jordan Bowden (1,365 from 2016-20) for a top-25 spot on the Vols’ all-time leaderboard. He and Jahmai Mashack are also one victory away from becoming the seventh and eighth players to win 100 games at Tennessee.
• Tennessee’s 191 victories over the last eight seasons (2017-25) rank co-eighth in DI, alongside Auburn (191). Only Gonzaga (231), Houston (227), Kansas (207), Duke (205), Purdue (201), San Diego State (192) and Saint Mary’s (192) possess more. Liberty (190) rounds out the top 10.
• Tennessee has 20-plus wins for the 31st time in program history, including the sixth in the last eight years and fourth in a row. Rick Barnes has his 25th such season, co-No. 11 all-time at the DI level.
