No. 15 cats fighting past No. 5 volumes on Tuesday – UK -Aatletics

Ansley Almonor and Otega Oweh each scored 13 points as No. 15 Kentucky topped fifth-ranked Tennessee 75-64 Tuesday night at Rupp Arena.

Koby Brea, which started instead of the wounded Jaxson Robinson, scored 11 points, and Trent Noah also came from the bench to score 11.

Kentucky (17-7, 6-5 Southeastern Conference) made 12 of 24 out of the arch, while Vols made only 3 of 18 (16.7 percent) of their long-distance shot.

Tennessee (20-5, 7-5) won the opening crane, but on the first possession pick the lamont butler pocket of Zakai Ziegler and drove to the other end for a set-up that put the cats in front of. An OWEH bucket on the next possession made it 4-0. A couple of free kicks from Ansley Almonor extended Britain led to 6-0 early. However, Tennessee scored the next five points to get within one.

A Koby Brea bucket did it 8-5 before Ziegler scored in the field to cut Britain leading to one, 8-7. Ziegler would hit a few free kicks and Vols grabbed their first lead 9-8. However, a Brea Three UK gave the lead back, 11-9. A three from Trent Noah expanded the benefit to 14-9.

Vols scored four directly to get inside one before a Brandon Garrison Dunk and a Butler Layup stretched the lead to 18-13. UT, however, scored four in a row to get inside one again, 18-17.

An Oweh-Tre did it 21-17, but Vols scored the next four to tie the game on 21 pieces. A Travis Perry Three made it 24-21 cats. After Ziegler got Vols within one, Noah hit another three, and Kentucky led 27-23 with 3:51 back in half. After an out-free park, Noah joined three again and the cats led 30-24. A garrison three expanded the lead to 33-24 and forced an out-timeout.

A couple of Tennessee-Frispark that was uncovered by the first half scoring, and the UK took a 33-26 lead into the break. Noah led all scorers with nine points in the first 20 minutes.

Amari Williams got the scoring started in the second half with a tough post. However, Vols responded with five directly to make it 35-31. Almonor then joined a three, and the cats led 38-31. And when Williams scored on a jumping hook, the UK took 40-31 lead.

Again, Tennessee would answer with back-to-back curve that made it 40-35. But Almonor hit a three from the top of the key, and Britain grabbed a 43-35 advantage. After Vols scored three equal, Almonor scored on a tip-in, and Britain led 45-38.

The teams would trade with triangles where Perry hit from a distance for cats when the UK took a 48-41 lead. UT, however, responded with a 6-2 race to cut the UK lead to 50-47.

The teams traded baskets to make it 52-49 before a butler-layup gave the UK a 54-49 lead. UT, however, answered with a three, and the advantage was down to two, 54-52. And when Vols hit two free throw with 8:20, the game was tied to 54-54.

Oweh made one of two on the line to give the UK a narrow 55-54 lead, but Vols scored four points to lead 58-55. That’s when Almonor drove to the bucket, made an off-balanced shot and was buried. He made the subsequent free throw to tie the game at 58 per. Pcs.

Ziegler scored at the edge to give out at 60-58 lead before Brea drilled a deep three to give Cats a 61-60 advantage with just more than four minutes to play. It was the start of a 7-0 race that made it 65-60 cats with 2:41 to play. After an UT bucket, Brea hit another three, and Owh scored a lob, giving Kentucky a 70-62 benefit with 1:20 back.

Tennessee would hit a couple of free kicks, but Owh answered with a few of his own to essentially remove the game.

Kentucky returns to action on Saturday and visits Texas in Austin. Tipoff is set to at 1 p.m. 20, and the game can be seen on ESPN.