No. 12 Kentucky Takes No. 8 Tennessee 78-73 in Sec Showdown

Koby Brea led Kentucky with 18 points in the victory over Tennessee.

Wildcats, without their second-leading goal scorer Lamont Butler, pick up a huge conference victory over No. 8 Tennessee, 78-73.

Kentucky was driven by elite-three-point shooting and went 12-24 from long reach in the victory. Tennessee put an absurd 45 three-pointers in the loss and connects only 11. Star Guards to Vols, Chaz Lanier and Zakai Zeigler, combined to 4-21 from the center.

Kentucky held the lead almost the first half, before an 11-0 race in the final minutes of the first Tennessee set up 33-30 during the break. However, Wildcats quickly regained the lead to open the second half and did not surrender the rest of the game. In total, Kentucky led to 35:20 compared to Tennessee’s 1:22 in front.

However, it did not come without afraid when Kentucky went cold down the stretch and kept Vols around. With 30 seconds to play, Chaz Lanier drilled a three and cut Wildcat’s lead to only one point, 74-73. But Kentucky knocked his free throw in crunchy time, and Tennessee was unable to connect from three on his next possession.

Wildcats were led offensively by Koby Brea, which fell 18, including 13 in the second half. Tennessee tip Igor Miličić tempoed the game in the scoring and voted 19 on 60% shooting.

Kentucky (15-5, 4-3 sec) flips a two-game slip in a big way and climb back over .500 in conference games. Tennessee (17-4, 4-4 sec) has now dropped two straight matches and they will stay in Knoxville to take on No. 5 Florida on Saturday.