The pause said it all.
Josh Richardson wanted to say Tennessee had just delivered its best shot against No. 1 Kentucky, but ultimately, the word “yes” never left his mouth.
“I want to call it our best shot, but I can’t because we made too many dumb mistakes,” the senior guard said. “Not dumb but stuff that just shouldn’t be happening.
“Without a couple breakdowns, it’s a different game.”
The biggest off those breakdowns proved to be costly for the Volunteers, turning a close heat into a brisk jog for the Wildcats, as they defeated Tennessee, 66-48, Tuesday night.
With Kentucky looking to extend its eight-point lead after consecutive two-point possessions, Tyler Ulis made a move toward the basket with the shot clock waning down. Then, right before the buzzer sounded, whistles blew, and Kevin Punter sent the freshman guard to the free-throw line.
After sinking the first, though, Ulis clanged his second attempt, but Karl-Anthony Towns, who had not attempted a shot all game, corralled the rebound and laid it in as the whistles once again rang.
The four-point trip was part of what eventually became a 10-0 run that Kentucky used to propel themselves to victory and escape Thompson-Boling Arena with its perfect record still unblemished at 26-0 (13-0 SEC), setting a new mark for the best start in program history.
“I’ll take the blame for that,” Punter said. “I shouldn’t have fouled (Ulis) in the first place. (That entire run) I was thinking about like, ‘Man, that was my fault.’
“Keeping him in front of you is not that easy, but I tried and they got me.”
For the most part, though, Tennessee (14-11, 6-7) was able to keep what head coach Donnie Tyndall described as “one of the most talented teams to ever be assembled” in front of itself.
In the first half, the Vols battled with the unanimous No. 1 team in the nation, thanks to a 20-8 discrepancy of points in the paint that helped them out-shoot Kentucky 54.2 to 44.8 percent.
At the 4:02 mark of the opening period, UT held its largest lead of the night at three before Devin Booker scored seven points in the final 3:42 to give the Wildcats a 35-31 halftime lead. Kentucky never held a lead of more than five in the first half.
“I feel like we did a pretty good job executing on offense,” junior forward Armani Moore said. “We weren’t settling (for jumpers) too much. We were getting to the rim, drawing fouls, getting and-1s and stuff like that.
“We did a good job of boxing out in the first half, and I felt like we were really showing them that we could be in the game.”
The second half, however, proved to be a different story.
After allowing Kentucky to build its lead up to seven in the opening 2:40 of the final period, the Vols were able to fight and get it back to a 48-44 ballgame with 9:09 to play.
From there, though, the Wildcats went on their 10-0 run while stifling UT’s attack, with the Vols shooting just 2-of-12 from the floor after cutting it to a four-point game.
“We didn’t shoot the ball very well,” Tyndall said. “That is credit to Kentucky because they are a heck of a defensive team at every position. They challenge and bother shots and certainly bothered us some tonight.”
Punter led the Vols with 14 points on 7-of-12 shooting, while Booker’s 18 points paced Kentucky.
Tennessee will look to snap its current two-game losing streak and end a spell that has seen them drop six of their last eight contests when they travel to Oxford, Mississippi to play the Ole Miss Rebels on Saturday.
“I certainly expect them to (bounce back),” Tyndall said. “We went through a rough patch the last six or eight games. That is part of college basketball. You had some high moments early in the year, and now, we are going through some tough times here. We have to respond. There is a lot of basketball left to be played.”
