Tennessee basketball tumbles 63-56 against Kentucky
Zakai Zeigler had the floor to himself, running free for the reward of his timely defensive play.
The Tennessee basketball guard missed the hoop completely, blasting the layup off the backboard and across the rim. It was one of the many small gaffes that led to a massive blunder Saturday amid an offensive outing that left no margin for such squandered points.
"The ones that are point-blank layups, you’ve got to make," Vols coach Rick Barnes said. "In games like this, you have to make uncontested layups.”
No. 5 Tennessee tumbled against rival Kentucky, losing 63-56 in a woeful shooting performance and rebounding disaster at Thompson-Boling Arena.
"The difference in the game was the rebounding," Barnes said. "I mean, they did whatever they wanted to do on the boards."
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Uros Plavsic led the Vols (14-3, 4-1 SEC) with a career-high 19 points on 9-for-11 shooting. The rest of the Vols combined to shoot 14 of 46 and 3-for-21 on 3-pointers. UT missed multiple open layups, starting with Zeigler's in the first half. Zeigler, who did not practice in the two days before Saturday, missed another in the second half and Josiah-Jordan James rolled one over the rim in the final minutes.
Zeigler and Plavsic missed back-to-back shots inside in the final minute after Tennessee trimmed the UK lead from 58-50 to 58-56.
The stats that told the story for Tennessee
Plavsic had the game of his career. The senior forward was the go-to scorer in the second half, carrying Tennessee at many points.
But Tennessee was dominated by an under-manned Kentucky team in key facts. The Wildcats went 22-for-25 at the free-throw line, while UT went 7-for-10. UK was shooting 65.6% at the free-throw line entering Saturday.
The Vols were outrebounded 43-23 and Kentucky had 13 offensive rebounds to Tennessee's four.
Kentucky always had an answer for Tennessee's second-half pushes
The Vols trailed by seven at halftime, but were the aggressors out of halftime especially defensively. Plavsic scored the first six points, while UT strung together more consistent stops than it did in the back half of the first half.
Tennessee took a 43-41 lead on a Zeigler layup following a Tyreke Key 3-pointer, but Kentucky clapped back. Antonio Reeves hit a 3-pointer and a jumper to restore UK's lead. Tennessee tied it 48-48 after Key free throws, but CJ Fredrick made a 3-pointer on the next possession.
First-half Tennessee frustrations
Tennessee opened the game in familiar fashion, blitzing Kentucky to lead 8-0 at the first media timeout. That was the good for the Vols, while the remainder of the first half was a struggle.
Kentucky had two 10-0 runs, dominated the rebounding battle, and cracked down on Tennessee's recently potent offense. The Wildcats had nine offensive rebounds, while outrebounding Tennessee 23-10.
UK hit Tennessee with a 10-0 push after the Vols ran to an 8-0 lead, a trademark start. The Wildcats came back with another 10-0 stretch late in the half after the Vols took a 23-21 lead on a Vescovi 3-pointer, UT's lone 3-pointer in the first half.
Up next
Tennessee plays at Mississippi State on Tuesday. The Vols smacked the Bulldogs 87-53 on Jan. 3 at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on Twitter @ByMikeWilson. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee basketball tumbles 63-56 against Kentucky
