The Tennessee-Kentucky rivalry has remained competitive throughout the entirety of the Rick Barnes era, with Barnes having a 10-7 advantage over the John Calipari-coached Wildcats.
The Vols and Wildcats have split the pair of regular season games the past two seasons, but things change this year as Calipari brings one of his worst teams in a while into Thompson-Boling Arena.
Kentucky came into the season as the No. 1 rated KenPom team but have failed to meet preseason expectations, starting the season 10-6 and starting conference play 1-3.
Reigning Player of the Year and veteran Wildcat Oscar Tshiebwe, who is averaging 16 points and 13.1 rebounds per game, expressed his frustrations with Kentucky, telling his coach after the Wildcats’ historic loss to South Carolina on Tuesday that he should put in walk-ons if they are willing to fight.
Kentucky’s dysfunction is no longer internal – it is now on national display.
But a rivalry game is a rivalry game because it just means more to both sides, and that is why Barnes is not overlooking the Wildcats as they come to town on Saturday.
“I know John Calipari and I know how he is,” Barnes said. “Nobody is going to work harder. Nobody is going to put more into it. He is locked in on one thing and that is figuring out how to get these guys better and I fully expect them to be better when they come in here tomorrow.”
Luckily for Barnes, he has veterans on his team that want to beat Kentucky as bad as Kentucky wants to beat them.
One of those is senior forward Josiah-Jordan James, who got his first taste of the Tennessee-Kentucky rivalry when he visited Thompson-Boling Arena for the Vols’ game against the Wildcats when he was in high school.
Tennessee won that game handedly behind the dynamic duo of Grant Williams and Admiral Schofield, and it played a big factor in James’ decision to commit to the Vols.
“That was the craziest atmosphere I had ever seen,” James said. “I knew right then and there that this was definitely something that I wanted to be a part of. Since being, the rivalry has been great. We just want to keep that going.”
But James has also been a part of some low moments in the Tennessee-Kentucky rivalry, like last season when the Wildcats hung triple digits on the Vols inside Rupp Arena.
“There was a lot of soul searching that we had to do as a team,” James said. “We always hang our hats on the defensive end, and to let a team score 107 points on us is uncommon. But you have to understand that it can’t happen ever again.”
And since that game, it hasn’t happened again. The Vols went on to beat the Wildcats in February and then again in March in the SEC Tournament.
But in the Tennessee-Kentucky rivalry, it doesn’t matter what your team did last season, last game or even in the games leading up. All that matters is what you do when the game tips off.
“I don’t care what has happened up to this point with either the University of Kentucky or the University of Tennessee,” Barnes said. “You can throw all of that out. It’s going to be a game where both teams are going to play hard, going to try to get better.”
