Tennessee basketball fell to Kentucky in its regular season finale 85-81 on Saturday afternoon at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center.
On Senior Night, the Vols came out flat and struggled offensively throughout the first half. Tennessee started five-of-27 from the field in the first half and struggled to get anything going until Dalton Knecht sparked them late in the first half.
“I told the guys after the game, I thought we were way too emotional at the start of the game,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said. “Didn’t execute. Very impatient offensively. Taking shots when we could have gotten more quality shots. And that feeds into them and let them get a little separation, they get comfortable, they can start getting out and going with it.”
The Vols offense woke up in the second half. Dalton Knecht was electric again, scoring 21 points in the second half and other guys stepped up around him.
Zakai Zeigler scored 14 points and dished out eight assists in the second half while Josiah-Jordan James scored eight points and knocked down two triples.
But Kentucky had an answer for every Tennessee run. The Wildcats shot nine-of-14 (64%) from three-point range and star point guard Reed Sheppard hit six-of-seven as Kentucky kept answering every Tennessee push.
Following the game, RTI’s Ric Butler and Ryan Schumpert discussed Knecht’s big game, Kentucky’s hot shooting and much more. Check it out here.
