Tennessee basketball had the worst kind of deja vu Saturday night, falling to Kentucky 74-71 on Saturday night in Lexington. Three weeks after blowing an 11-point halftime lead against Kentucky in Knoxville, the Vols blew a 14-point halftime lead at Kentucky.
While the end result was the same, the process looked much different. Tennessee’s defense failed in its home loss against Kentucky. In Lexington, the Vols’ offense fell apart in the second half after a stellar first half performance.
Following the game, Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said the failure being on offense instead of defense made the loss more bearable to him then the first loss.
“This was — I can take this (loss),” Barnes said. “The one in Knoxville, shoot, I wanted to — it took me two days to get over it, and I’ve been doing this a long time. I can normally let them go pretty quickly, but that was the way we just gift-wrapped that one. … This one, this is exactly how we thought the game — even when we were up — you knew it was gonna settle in and (come) down to a last-minute play, we gotta get a better shot than we did there at the end.”
More From RTI: Plenty Of Blame To Go Around For Tennessee Basketball’s Offensive Collapse At Kentucky
In Knoxville, Tennessee allowed 49 second half points with Kentucky scoring on 71% of its possessions and grabbing 13 offensive rebounds. The Vols’ effort and concentration on the defensive end was abysmal, making it difficult for Barnes to wrap his arms around.
However, Tennessee’s offensive failure Saturday night was equally bad. The Vols scored just 24 points in the second half, missing 24-of-30 field goal attempts and five free throws while turning the ball over seven times.
Tennessee was particularly abysmal at the rim with its front court combining to shoot two-of-13 in the second half. Only one of the shot attempts was from farther than five-feet away.
“We can’t make the mistakes we made,” Barnes said. “And yet we need some of those baskets at the rim to take the pressure off the perimeter guys. We’ve got to get some of them.”
The process was slightly different but the end result was the same and equally inexcusable. Tennessee looks to bounce back and put together a full 40-minute game Wednesday when they face Mississippi State in Starkville.
