Koby Brea scored 18 points and Jaxson Robinson added 17 to help No. 12 Kentucky post a 78-73 victory over No. 8 Tennessee on Tuesday in Knoxville, Tenn.
Otega Oweh logged 14 points, Ansley Almonor had 12 on four 3-pointers and Amari Williams recorded 10 points and a season-high 15 rebounds for the Wildcats (15-5, 4-3 Southeastern Conference), who halted a two-game losing streak.
Igor Milicic Jr. had 19 points and nine rebounds for Tennessee (17-4, 4-4), which has lost four of its past seven games. Chaz Lanier tallied 15 points and Zakai Zeigler had 13 for the Volunteers.
Kentucky was a solid 12 of 24 from 3-point range with Robinson also knocking down 4 of 9 attempts. Overall, the Wildcats shot 50 percent from the field.
Tennessee trailed by 11 in the second half and eventually pulled within 71-68 on Lanier’s 3-pointer with 4:10 left in the contest. However, the Volunteers missed their next nine field-goal attempts.
Brea sank two free throws to make it a five-point margin with 3:44 to go, and neither team scored again until Lanier made two foul shots with 1:06 to play.
Robinson split two three throws to give Kentucky a 74-70 lead with 1:02 left.
Lanier ended the stretch of Tennessee shooting futility by burying a 3-pointer with 28.6 seconds left. However, Oweh made two free throws with 25.3 seconds remaining to give the Wildcats a three-point edge.
Jordan Gainey airballed a 3-point attempt for the Volunteers with just under 10 seconds left, and Oweh hit two more free throws with 7.1 seconds remaining to seal it.
Kentucky played without standout point guard Lamont Butler (shoulder). In addition, big man Andrew Carr (back) attempted to play when he came off the bench in the first half, but he was subbed out 89 seconds later and didn’t return.
Zeigler hopped and limped off the floor with an apparent right knee injury with 2:17 left in the first half and went immediately to the locker room. He was back on the floor to start the second half.
Tennessee shot just 34.7 percent from the field and 11 of 45 (24.4 percent) from behind the arc.
Almonor and Brea made consecutive 3-pointers to cap an 11-2 burst to start the second half as Kentucky took a 41-35 lead.
Tennessee was within 45-42 after a trey by Milicic with 14:53 left before the Wildcats scored 12 of the next 16 points. Oweh’s putback capped the run and made it 57-46 with 11:19 remaining.
Tennessee never led in the game until going on an 11-0 run to end the first half. Lanier hit a 3-pointer to put the hosts ahead with 39 seconds to play, giving the Volunteers a 33-30 halftime lead.
–Field Level Media
