The countdown to National Signing Day had already begun.
Kentucky had jumped out to as much as a 21-point lead with five minutes, 46 seconds left and Tennessee fans’ thoughts drifted toward a fax machine.
The Vols, though, had the crowd’s full attention as the final buzzer sounded after mounting a comeback and holding on late to secure an 84-77 victory over the No. 20 Wildcats inside Thompson-Boling Arena on Tuesday.
“I think our guys really deserve all the credit in the world, the way they hung in and hustled,” UT coach Rick Barnes said. “They weren’t playing very well early, but they stayed with it. There wasn’t one person that played that game that didn’t help us some way, somehow.”
Shortly after the opening tip, Kentucky (16-6, 6-3 SEC) got to work on building their lead scoring on an Alex Poythress layup after two offensive rebounds. With 10:21 left in the first half, the Wildcats had a 22-11 lead and continued to build it.
At the time, Kentucky took its 34-13 lead with 5:46 left to play, the Vols (11-11, 4-5) were shooting just 5-for-22 (22.7 percent) and being out-rebounded 17-9, but Barnes never counted his team out.
“It didn’t (cross my mind we wouldn’t be able to bounce back), for two reasons,” Barnes said. “You might think about changes that you want to make, but Armani and Kevin were competitive, and Detrick proved that he wanted to compete. As long as you have guys that are willing to compete, I don’t think that you think that way.”
Punter scored a game-high 27 points and Moore added 18. Mostella (13) and Admiral Schofield (11) also scored in double figures.
Kentucky guards Jamal Murray and Tyler Ulis scored 21 and 20 points, respectively.
The Vols reeled off a 10-0 run after falling behind 21 and ultimately finished the half on 22-8 run to go into the locker room with a 42-36 deficit.
“We just talked about whittling it down,” Barnes said. “I didn’t say a number, but in my mind I’m thinking if we could get it down to around 10 before halftime we got a working number, but we got it lower.”
In between the 16:50 and 14:09 marks of the second half, UT went on a 10-2 spurt capped off by a Mostella three that gave the Vols’ their first lead of the night.
Ulis answered with a three of his own to put the Wildcats back on top and UK held that lead for 2:23 before a Moore three knotted things up at 63-63.
Moments later, Robert Hubbs III hit a jumper that gave the Vols the lead. A pair of Ulis free throws tied things up at 70-70 with 5:16 left, but that was the only time UT failed to lead after Hubbs’ basket.
“I definitely heard Ulis yell at his teammates because a few times I felt like they didn’t know where to go,” Punter said. “I could definitely feel the tension and the frustration.”
UT scored seven unanswered points after Ulis’ free throws tied it up, but Kentucky managed to cut the lead to three twice in the waning minutes.
Hubbs sank a pair of free throws with 30 seconds remaining to give the Vols a five-point lead and on the other end Moore sealed the game with a hustle defensive rebound after the Wildcats missed two threes and a layup.
“That was a big mental part of the game,” Moore said. “Coach (Barnes) told us that if we get in trouble we had one timeout left. He told us that in the huddle and I kind of wrote that down, so when I got on the ground, I looked at the ref and called timeout.
“The last thing we want is to get a jump ball and it be their ball. I just did what I needed to do.”
The Vols comeback comes three days after they blew a 14-point halftime lead at TCU on Saturday and six days after blowing a 15-point lead with 15 minutes to play at Alabama.
“I love these guys,” Barnes said. “If we would have walked in here and lost this game, I would have told you the same thing. I’ve really enjoyed these guys a lot because I don’t think they’ve ever had an attitude of ‘We’re going to quit.’ There’s still a lot of basketball to be played.”
Kevin Punter moves down the court past a Kentucky defender.
