After crushing Tennessee, Kentucky believes ’we can play with anybody’

Kentucky All-American Kenny Walker found the Cats playing a game against Tennessee fitting on the day former UK Coach Joe B. Hall died at age 93.

“I’m sure there is no team in the SEC he wanted to beat more than Tennessee,” Walker said Saturday morning.

Kentucky did more than beat Tennessee in the afternoon. A startling shooting display propelled UK to a 107-79 dismantling of the Vols at Rupp Arena.

It was Kentucky’s largest margin of victory in this border state rivalry since a 74-45 blowout in the 2010 Southeastern Conference Tournament.

While Tennessee’s presence led fans to repeatedly fill Rupp Arena with boos, especially whenever John Fulkerson touched the ball, UK Coach John Calipari’s long-standing friendship with Rick Barnes diluted any notion of complete dislike.

Of the postgame handshake with the Tennessee coach, Calipari said, “I told him, we don’t play much better than we just played.”

In beating No. 22 Tennessee, Kentucky got its first victory against a ranked team after earlier losses to Duke and LSU.

“I feel we proved not only to other people but to ourselves that we can play with anybody in the country …,” said freshman TyTy Washington, Jr., who led the UK offense with a career-high 28 points. “We always felt we can compete with the best of the best. (Against UT), we proved it.”

UK players and Calipari saluted the help provided by the announced crowd of 20,278.

Washington cited the final of three pregame warmups as an indication that this atmosphere would be in stark contrast with the comparatively tepid support during seasons marred by the coronavirus.

“I was looking up at the very top,” Washington said of that final warmup. “I see people up there standing and screaming. …

“We matched their intensity.”

Kentucky, now 14-3 overall and 4-1 in the SEC, made 67.9 percent of its shots. That was UK’s best accuracy in Calipari’s 13 seasons as coach, and the best since the Rupp Arena record 72.2 percent against Mississippi State on Feb. 15, 1986.

“They spread the defense and we shot layups,” Calipari said of UK’s shooting. “That’s why the percentage was what it was.”

Sahvir Wheeler, who played nearly 28 minutes after missing the past two games with an injury, contributed 21 points and eight assists. He saluted the help provided by the crowd’s enthusiasm

“Man, that was great,” he said. “That was one of the best — probably the best — experiences that I’ve had.”

Wheeler noted that his previous college team, Georgia, had a rivalry with Tennessee, too.

“But with 10,000 (or) 12,000 more fans, it makes it a lot more fun,” he said.

Kentucky made 22 of 28 shots in the first half in taking a 52-38 lead at intermission.

This came against a Tennessee defense that limited previous opponents to an average of 60.7 points and 39.7-percent shooting. UK surpassed 60.7 points when Kellan Grady made a three-pointer with 17:26 left in the second half.

Washington led UK’s shooting gallery in the first half by making six of seven shots and scoring 14 points.

Kentucky came out hot, making its first five shots. With 7:27 left in the first half, eight Kentucky players had scored.

Momentary disgruntlement erupted down the stretch of the first half. Both Wheeler and Oscar Tshiebwe picked up their second fouls with 5:25 and 3:00 left in the half, respectively. In both instances, fans booed in apparent belief that Tennessee defenders flopped. Calipari’s body language along the sideline suggested he agreed as he thrust out his stomach and leaned backward.

Yet, Kentucky outscored Tennessee 22-8 in the final eight minutes to set the halftime score.

As the second half began, Kentucky duplicated its hot shooting to start the game. The Cats made five of their first six shots to open up a 67-45 lead and prompt a Tennessee timeout with 16:24 left.

During that spree, Washington made a pair of shots. His three-pointer seconds before the timeout gave him 21 points, thus eclipsing his previous season high of 20 he scored three times.

Wheeler, who had made only one of 18 three-point shots in the last 12 games he played, got in on the hot shooting. He hit a three-pointer from near the left corner with 14:01 left to expand the lead to 74-50.

For only the third time this season, Tshiebwe failed to score double-digit points. He finished with nine points and a game-high 12 rebounds.

Calipari suggested it was a good thing that Kentucky scored its most points since a 107-73 victory over Illinois Chicago on Nov. 26, 2017, without Tshiebwe being dominant offensively.

“Really just us making shots and really executing …,” the UK coach said of his team’s prolific offense in most games since the loss at Notre Dame. “We just can’t rely on Oscar all the time.”

Next game

Texas A&M at No. 18 Kentucky

When: 8:30 p.m. Wednesday

TV: SEC Network

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