Kentucky Wildcats shoot past Tennessee Vols

Sunday, January 19, 2014

photo Kentucky's Julius Randle (30) shoots as Tennessee's Jeronne Maymon, left, and Tennessee's Jarnell Stokes defend during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2014, in Lexington, Ky. Kentucky won 74-66.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Tennessee certainly didn't play poorly in a place where it rarely wins, but 13th-ranked Kentucky simply was just a little bit better in a 74-66 basketball victory Saturday afternoon at Rupp Arena in the only regular-season meeting between the Southeastern Conference border rivals.

"The whole game was tough for us," Tennessee guard Jordan McRae said after scoring 17 points. "We did what we was supposed to do. We rebounded and I think we guarded well. They just knocked down some shots."

While the visiting Volunteers (11-6, 2-2) held big advantages in rebounds (39-24) and points in the paint (34-24), the Wildcats -- again loaded with ultra-talented freshmen -- excelled from the 3-point and free-throw lines.

The Wildcats were shooting 30.5 percent from 3-point range and 65.9 percent from the foul line this season, but they hit 7 of 16 3-pointers and made 23 of 24 free shots.

Kentucky (13-4, 3-1) made five treys in the first half, which allowed twin freshman guards Andrew and Aaron Harrison to get into the lane in the second half, and the Wildcats scored 18 points in the paint and made 16 free throws after halftime.

Freshman forward Julius Randle scored 16 of his 18 points in the first half, and Andrew Harrison, who hit all 10 of his free throws, poured in 16 of his career-high 26 in the second half.

"It was definitely a winnable game because we stuck to our game plan," Vols forward Jarnell Stokes said. "We said we were going to keep them out of the lane and make them take 3s, and they made 3s. That just confused us as far as sticking to our defensive game plan.

"Once they were able to hit 3s, it sort of put us in a bind as far as not being able to help as much."

Playing against a tall and talented front line of 7-foot center Willie Cauley-Stein and the 6-9 Randle, Stokes was both active and productive. The 6-8 Tennessee junior scored the game's first six points and recorded his ninth double-double of the season by halftime. He finished with 20 points and 15 rebounds against a couple of future NBA players.

"He was aggressive, and he was hungry," Vols coach Cuonzo Martin said. "Whenever he plays aggressive, he's a totally different basketball player. I thought Jarnell did a great job of attacking the glass, being aggressive, being assertive, imposing his will, rebounding the basketball and defending."

"He came and he dominated tonight," added fellow big man Jeronne Maymon. "The rest of the team's just got to bring it a little more."

It was perhaps Stokes' best performance as a Vol, but he scoffed at that notion and pointed to better games in Tennessee's two wins in the Bahamas in November and in the victory at LSU in the SEC opener.

"I don't want anyone to hype this game because it was against Kentucky," he said.

"I was a top-10 player coming out of high school, too," Stokes added. "I'm not surprised by how I played or anything. ... I'm not surprised by how I played at all."

Tennessee, which is now 4-35 in Rupp Arena and last won there in 2006, led 18-9 with 12 minutes left before halftime, but the Wildcats made a charge just before the break. A 10-2 run in the half's final three minutes, capped by freshman James Young's triple, wiped out Tennessee's six-point lead.

"The end of the first half hurt us," said McRae, who was just 5-of-14 from the field and made four turnovers. "In the second half they started knocking down shots. It was tough for us."

After Maymon, who had 12 points and five rebounds, scored to cut Kentucky's lead to five, Armani Moore missed an open 3-pointer from the corner in front of Tennessee's bench. A few possessions later, the Vols' Antonio Barton, who was scoreless and missed all four of his shots, clanked an open trey, and Aaron Harrison scored to push the Wildcats' lead to 10.

Tennessee was just 2-of-13 on 3s.

"I like that shot [by Moore], because that's a shot he's spent a lot of time working on, even though that wasn't his game before," Martin said. "I didn't think we had bad looks. If anything, maybe the timing of the shots, because I felt like we had tremendous opportunities when we pounded the ball inside."

With Tennessee down 64-58 following Darius Thompson's 3, McRae was stripped in transition and clanked the front end of a one-and-one free-throw opportunity, one of five free throws the Vols missed in the game's final five minutes.

"They knocked down shots when they needed to," McRae said, "and I think that was the difference in the game."

Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com