Against all odds, Kentucky found a way to make history in season sweep vs. Tennessee
It’s hard to put into words the feeling in the room when Lamont Butler went down for Kentucky in the second half, re-aggravating the injured shoulder he said just a day before was behind him for good. He grabbed at his left arm in excruciating pain, helped up to his feet and off the floor, straight back to the locker room as Rupp Arena sat in silence. Jaxson Robinson was already out with an injured wrist on his right shooting arm, showing up with a heavy support brace and his short-term status in obvious question moving forward. Then Butler is declared out with nine minutes to go, the Wildcats up just two points against a top-five team in the country?
Every missed shot and allowed basket carried greater weight that point forward, a new level of frustration for fans in attendance in a why-can’t-we-have-nice-things sort of way. This team has already been without Kerr Kriisa since early December with Butler, Andrew Carr and now Robinson missing time. Was Travis Perry the team’s new starting point guard? Would Otega Oweh and Amari Williams split time bringing the ball up the floor? Where do you even go from here? Worrying about those questions down the road would have to come after the final buzzer. Until then, they had nine minutes to figure out how to win this game now.
If they were technically slight underdogs going in, there is no telling what the live odds looked like in that moment.
Considering this team’s big-moment abilities, though, maybe they should have been heavy favorites down the stretch? Just like Duke, then Gonzaga, Florida, Mississippi State, Texas A&M and Tennessee the first time around, the Cats did it again, scraping together an unlikely victory in yet another high-profile matchup — the seventh top-15 win on the year to set the program’s all-time record, topping the six wins earned by the 2002-03 team under Tubby Smith. Down two point guards from the opening tip and three in the final minutes? No problem, Mark Pope’s group cruising to the 75-64 rivalry win to earn the season sweep for just the second time against the Volunteers under Rick Barnes.
https://www.on3.com/teams/kentucky-wildcats/news/against-all-odds-kentucky-found-a-way-to-make-history-in-season-sweep-vs-tennessee/