THOMPSON-BOLING ARENA
FEB. 20, 2021
ATTENDANCE: 4191
Final Score: Kentucky 70, No. 19/20 Tennessee 55
Final Score: Kentucky 70, No. 19/20 Tennessee 55
Team Records and Series Notes • Kentucky is now 8-13 overall, 7-7 in the Southeastern Conference.o UK has won three in a row – tying its longest winning streak of the season – and picked up its first win this season vs. a ranked opponent. • Tennessee is 15-6, 8-6 in league play.• Kentucky leads the overall series 157-75, including 57-52 in games played in Knoxville.o This was UK’s largest margin of victory in Knoxville since a 66-48 win in 2015.o UK won by double figures in Knoxville for the second year in a row, first time to accomplish that since doing it four in a row from 1995-98.• Next: After a week-long tour of the Volunteer State, Kentucky returns home to host Texas A&M Tuesday at 7 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPN or ESPN2.
Player Notes • Isaiah Jackson notched 16 points and seven rebounds.o During UK’s three-game win streak, he is averaging 16.3 points and nine rebounds per game. o His 18 points vs. Auburn, 15 at Vanderbilt and 16 today are his three-highest games of the season. • Davion Mintz had 15 points, all in the first half, on a career-high-tying five 3-pointers.o It was the most made 3s by a UK player in the opening half at Tennessee since Jodie Meeks also had five on Jan. 13, 2009o Mintz leads the Wildcats with 41 3-pointers this season and he’s knocked down two more from long range in seven of his last eight games played. • Keion Brooks Jr. had 10 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. Both of the double-doubles of his career have been this season against Tennessee.• Bolstered by a perfect 6 of 6 at the foul line, Olivier Sarrhad 10 points and seven rebounds, his 11th double-figure game of the season. • Jacob Toppin contributed six points, four rebounds, a career-high two steals and a blocked shot in 18 minutes of action as he continues to have an impact on both ends of the floor.
Coach John Calipari • Calipari is now 338-90 at UK.• Calipari has a 783-230 all-time on-court record. • UK is 64-38 under Calipari against teams ranked in The Associated Press Top 25.• Calipari is 18-13 in his career vs. Tennessee.
Team Notes • Kentucky held Tennessee to 55 points.• UK is a perfect 79-0 under Calipari when keeping the opponent to 55 or fewer points, including 2-0 this season.• UK limited Tennessee to 32.1% from the field. • UK is 208-24 under Calipari when keeping the opponent at 40 percent or less, although only 6-5 this season when that occurs.• Kentucky won the rebounding 43-31, keeping Tennessee to only two second-chance points.• Kentucky made half of its 3-point shots today, 7 of 14.• UK has made an average of 10 3-pointers over the last four games, shooting 44.4% from long range (40 of 90).• Kentucky made 85 percent of its foul shots today, 17 of 20.• UK made 41 of 45 (91.1) during the road wins at Vanderbilt and Tennessee.• With 12 assists and 11 turnovers, UK is now 8-2 this season when winning or tying assist/TO margin. UK has not won a game this season without being on the positive side of the margin.• UK led by as many as 21 points. UK is 287-11 under Calipari when leading by at least 10 points during the game, including 6-3 this season. • This marked the first win over an Associated Press Top 25 ranked opponent this season.• It’s the first win over a ranked foe on the road since a 78-76 overtime win at Texas Tech on Jan. 25, 2020• The 15-point win matches the largest win over a ranked team on the road under Calipari. UK also beat No. 16 Florida (March 4, 2012) and No. 22 Louisville (Dec. 31, 2010) by 15 on the road.
In the First Half • Kentucky started Devin Askew, Davion Mintz, Brandon Boston Jr., Isaiah Jackson and Olivier Sarr for the sixth-straight game and ninth time this season. UK is 4-5 with this lineup.• Jacob Toppin was the first substitute at the 16:39mark. • Trailing 10-8, Kentucky took the lead for good by holding Tennessee scoreless for almost six minutes and going on a 15-0 run. • It is UK’s largest run against an SEC opponent this season. • Kentucky extended its lead to 17 on three occasions and went to halftime ahead 45-30.• UK shot 60.7% from the field, 66.7% from 3-point range, and 100% at the foul line.• For the second consecutive game, Mintz and Jackson sparked the first half. Mintz made all five of his 3-pointers for 15 points while Jackson had 13 points, including all five of the foul shots that UK attempted in the opening period. • Kentucky is now 5-5 this season when leading at halftime.
In the Second Half • Kentucky opened the second half with the starting lineup.• UK missed its first seven field-goal attempts of the half but stayed afloat with six straight free throws. Brooks broke the drought with a short driving banker with 15:49 left. • All totaled, UK made its first 12 foul shots of the game before a miss with 14:59 remaining.• Despite missing 14 of its first 16 shots from the field in the second half, a short banker by Sarr gave UK its then-largest lead of the game at 58-38 at the 12:14 mark.• UK’s eventually posted its largest advantage of 21 points, 70-49, with less than two minutes left.
John Calipari
On holding onto a big lead that was built early in the game …
“I keep talking daggers. Olivier (Sarr) made two free throws and a jump hook, those are daggers. The 3 by Devin (Askew), the rebound by Devin in traffic, those are daggers. The biggest thing is that we’rea good defensive team and we learned a little bit from the last time playing them how you have to play them. We knew coming in that it was going to be hand to hand combat and we didn’t back away. They’re a top-20 team, probably a top-15 team, they have a chance to go to a Final Four and we came in here and did it. It’s one game and now we keep building. A few years ago, we were 6-7 and ended up getting to the Elite Eight I believe. We lost four in a row and everyone’s going crazy and all of a sudden the team turned it around. Like I told them after, even when they were playing bad, I believed in them. Even when individuals were so bad that it was scary, I believed in them. You just keep working with kids—they’rekids. You keep working with them. You hold them accountable, but you keep encouraging and coaching and challenging them and getting them to work outside of their comfort level. Then, when they’re doing it right, you’re there. When they’re not doing it right, you hold them together. That’s coaching. I’m just going to keep doing what we’re doing, the kids are getting better, shooting the ball better. We passed up a couple shots again and I went nuts because they ended up being bad shots when we had open looks. Just take it, you shot an air ball. Why didn’t you take the first one? But instead of 10 or 12 of those, there’s only two of three a game now.”
On starting the second half slow but maintaining the big lead …
“I wish we would have made a bunch of shots and been up bigger, but we were really guarding. And I’ll tell you what else we did, we were really rebounding. I think the last time that they played us, they out-rebounded us and beat us to balls. We did some good stuff today. They weren’t at their best. I know they’re better than they played. But let me just tell you, we were at our best. When we have a game where we have 11 turnovers—and a bunch were at the end so were really only had probably eight or nine turnovers. Like I said, I believe in this team, I still do. I don’t care about the record, I don’t even know what the record is. All I want to know is that we’regetting better. That’s it. People can go crazy saying that I need to know the record, but I’m just telling you, I don’t even look at the score. I’m just coaching my team to get better. And you know what, this young group of inexperienced kids need us to be that way. But hold them accountable. You have to hold them accountable or you’re not coaching.”
On defending Tennessee’s Keon Johnson and Jaden Springer …
“We tried to crowd the court a little bit and we did a better job of it. And we played team defense. We’re becoming a team. Can you imagine? Do you know where we were four weeks ago? Every guy trying to get theirs. I think the last six games, we have seven guys in double figures. Jacob Toppin has eight points a game. So you have eight guys that are almost double figures. That’s a team. You’re not trying to get yours, we’re trying to do this together. I’ve been begging and talking, and I think sometimes you have to hit the bottom to climb back, but it was a good effort.”
Kentucky Student-Athletes
#12, Keion Brooks Jr., So., F
On keys to stopping Tennessee’s offense …
“Just a point of emphasis of having your teammates back. Not leaving anybody on an island so that they could get downhill on us. Check the basket. They did a great job of that last game. I feel like this game we had a much better game plan of stopping their penetration. Being out there, helping each other.”
On the relationship between playing as a team and defensive physicality …
“They go together. The more physical you are, the more things you are able to do. You can’t make a lot of plays being pushed around and getting bullied. When we come with that physicality, being aggressive and asserting ourselves, that frees you up to make more plays.”
On the importance of getting an early lead …
“It was extremely important to know that we can do that. We can build these leads and finally bury a team and put a team away. It felt good to be able to keep our foot on the gas pedal the whole time. We need to build on that and do that more often.”
On what the feeling is now following three consecutive wins …
“So now, let’s keep it rolling. Let’s keep the momentum that we’ve got, keep playing this way. Playing hard, believing in each one of our teammates, believing in the coaching staff. Like I said before, everybody needs each other to get it done. So, that’s the feeling right now.”
#10, Davion Mintz, Gr., G
On how hot he was in the first half …
“Yeah, I was burning up at the beginning. Like you said, just me being me. And that’s extremely helpful to do that at the beginning of the game, kind of take the air out of the other team. So that was big.”
On how important it was to see the team win three games in a row …
“Yeah. I mean, that’s huge for us, especially with everything we’ve been through already this season. To kind of go on the road, especially at this time right now, that’s huge. It’s exactly what we needed heading to March.”
On whether the hot offensive first half or the defensive effort in the second half was more impressive …
“I think both. At one point in the game, I told my teammates my gun is jammed. We have to do something. But, just for us to keep that lead, that’s huge. It showed the past three, four games, for us to continue to fight throughout the last six, five, four minutes, that’s a huge improvement. I think Keion (Brooks Jr.) mentioned earlier about the fact that we’re all new guys playing with each other, trying to find that glue. Of course, it came late for us, but that’s a huge accomplishment for this team, it’s kind of what coach has been pushing.”
On what it says about the team that they didn’t let Tennessee get back into the game late …
“Yeah, absolutely, that was the best part. Just the fact that we started out that hot and just kept it going for the entire game. That was huge for us and our confidence. I think that we owed them one and it was big for us to come in and do it.”
On Coach Cal saying that the players know who should be playing …
“Yeah, I mean, this is just a group of unselfish guys. Some days, you have Jacob (Toppin) playing out of his mind. You can name everyone. Everyone has had a great game this season. The coachesput the team together and the players run it. In the most respectful way, Coach knows, he’s the mastermind of this whole cruise ship that we have. We know who’s leading the way some nights, we know who needs to be out there. That’s the beauty of having a bunch of guys that are super unselfish, that want the best for the next man. We know who needs to be out there. Sometimes, we’llsub ourselves out. We have a bunch of guys doing it. With everything we’ve been through, that’s great that we still have that attitude.”