#22 Vols fall on the road to #18 Kentucky
Published 8:08 pm Saturday, January 15, 2022
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Photo Contributed by UT Athletics Santiago Vescovi drives the basketball toward the paint against Kentucky.
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CONTRIBUTED BY UT ATHLETICS
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The 22nd-ranked Tennessee basketball team fell to No. 18 Kentucky on the road Saturday, 107-79.
Kentucky shot 61 percent from the field for the game and made 38 field goals—surpassing the previous season-high of 27 by a Tennessee opponent.
Despite defensive deficiencies, Tennessee shot 53 percent from the floor. Junior Santiago Vescovi led the Vols with 20 points on 7-for-10 shooting, while Kennedy Chandler had 17.
Josiah-Jordan James and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield also scored in double figures with 11 points apiece.
After Kentucky shot 79 percent from the field during the first half and entered the halftime break with a 52-38 lead, the Wildcats again came out hot in the second half—outscoring Tennessee 29-12 in the first eight minutes of the second period.
Freshman guard TyTy Washington led the Wildcats with 28 points on 10-for-13 shooting. Tennessee took an early 5-4 lead, but Kentucky quickly responded with a 10-0 run and never surrendered the lead for the remainder of the contest.
Tennessee’s deficit was limited to single digits until the last two minutes of the first half, when Kentucky extended its lead to as many as 16.
The Wildcats finished the first half on an 11-4 run. As a team, Kentucky shot 79 percent (22-for-28) from the field during the first half, including 67 percent from 3-point range (4-for-6).
Washington led Kentucky with 14 points on 6-for-7 shooting through the first 20 minutes. Tennessee shot 54 percent in the opening period, led by double-figure scoring outputs from Chandler and Vescovi, who tallied 11 and 10 points, respectively.
UP NEXT: The Vols are back on the road on Tuesday, taking on Vanderbilt at Memorial Gymnasium. Tipoff in Nashville is set for 9 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. CT on SEC Network.
