By Walt Barron: A close, personal friend to Rocky Top Insider, Barron is a lifelong Vol fan who will travel when he can but mostly cheers for the Big Orange from his home in Durham, NC.
At 7:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday night, Vol Nation was riding high. The Vols were on a three-game heater where they pounded top-5 Florida, came back to beat top-15 Missouri, and completely dismantled NCAA Tournament hopeful Oklahoma. The Vols were about to exact revenge against a conference foe that had upset them on their home court just a couple of weeks earlier.
Two hours later, the sky had fallen.
Tennessee inexplicably had forgotten how to score yet again. Not just three-pointers, which have become this team’s Achilles heel. But also layups, putbacks, mid-range jumpers and uncontested dunks. Kentucky, meanwhile, shot a relatively blistering 50% from every spot on the court. They made threes, contested layups, runners and hook shots that bounced on the rim three or four times before falling through the net – against the nation’s No. 1-ranked defense.
It seemed the Vols couldn’t do anything right, and Kentucky couldn’t do anything wrong.
It’s hard to watch this happen live. It felt even more helpless being in Rupp Arena that night. It was supposed to be the perfect bucket list trip to celebrate my 50th Birthday. The Vols were supposed to win. We were supposed to walk out of that place with our heads high, smiling from ear-to-ear as 20,000-plus dejected Kentucky fans walked out. If only the Vols had made a couple more shots. If only Kentucky hadn’t. If, if, if…
My two lifelong buddies sitting on each side of me represent the two ends of my Tennessee fandom. One of them runs on emotion and gut. He sensed it would be one of those nights early on, and then quickly predicted another early exit from the NCAA Tournament next month.
My other friend runs on rationale. He calmly pointed to the stats on the big screen high above, specifically three-point shooting. Six different Kentucky players (including a couple of rarely-used subs) hit 12 three-pointers. One Tennessee player (power forward Igor Milicic Jr.) hit a trio of three-pointers, while the rest of the team went zero-for-14. If this had been a three-point shooting contest, Kentucky would’ve won by 27 points. TWENTY SEVEN. There’s your difference in the game.
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I initially felt dejected and wanted to escape as the final horn sounded, but since I’d traveled all the way from my home in Durham NC, in wintry conditions no less, I decided I needed to take my lumps and watch the aftermath. Smoke flared, lights flashed, and music thumped. Kentucky players popped their jerseys and Coach Mark Pope pumped his fist high in the air. I scanned that arena and stopped on the long row of banners hanging high up in the rafters: Eight national championships. Another three runners-up and another four Final Fours. They don’t hang banners in Rupp for making the NCAA Tournament, or Sweet 16 or Elite Eight.
Thompson-Boling Arena also proudly displays banners for Eight national championships, of course… For the Lady Vols. The men’s team is still searching for its first-ever Final Four appearance.
Historically speaking, the gap between Tennessee and Kentucky is still as cavernous as Rupp Arena. Before Bruce Pearl arrived in Knoxville in 2006, Kentucky had won 37 of the previous 50 games, including a brutal 11-game losing streak in the mid-90s. Tennessee could win the next 84 games in the series and still be behind Kentucky all-time.
It may not feel that way for newer fans. Pearl was a respectable 6-8. Rick Barnes was 11-9 until this recent 3-game skid going back to last season.
A particularly fiery UK homer sitting directly in front reminded us how far Tennessee has come when he turned and said, “This is our biggest win of the year.”
In the movie The Dark Knight, The Batman interrogates villain The Joker in one particularly tense scene. Batman asks him, “Why do you want to kill me?”
The Joker laughs as he responds: “I don’t, I don’t want to kill you! What would I do without you? Go back to ripping off mob dealers? No, no, NO! No. You… you… complete me.”
It may not feel like much of a balm right now, but that loss affirmed that the Vols are a worthy rival to the blue bloods from Lexington. We’re the Batman to their Joker. They need us.
If you’re still not buying it, think about the football series between the two schools. Tennessee doesn’t celebrate like this when it beats Kentucky on the gridiron. A team you’ve beaten 37 times in the past 40 years doesn’t deserve to be your best win. We may need Alabama, Florida and Georgia. But Kentucky? No way.
The next morning, my rational friend shared this Tweet:
Tennessee is 14-63 from three against Kentucky, seems to be the only team in conference the Wildcats can actually defend. Not sure I’ve ever been able to say losing to Kentucky twice is the worst thing on the Vol resume, but here we are.
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) February 12, 2025
I agree. Not sure how many fans could think losing twice to the winningest program in college basketball history is the worst thing on their team’s resume.
But here we are.
