All for Tennessee
Fansided

Tennessee basketball: Ranking Vols 10 homes wins vs. top 5 Kentucky teams

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - JANUARY 24: Tennessee Volunteers players celebrate after defeating the Kentucky Wildcats at Thompson-Boling Arena on January 24, 2017 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennessee defeated Kentucky 82-80. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - JANUARY 24: Tennessee Volunteers players celebrate after defeating the Kentucky Wildcats at Thompson-Boling Arena on January 24, 2017 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennessee defeated Kentucky 82-80. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 11
Next
Photo by Mike DuBose/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Photo by Mike DuBose/Hulton Archive/Getty Images /

9. Feb. 27, 1984

Don DeVoe, up to this point, had been continuing the Ray Mears success. Thanks to guys like Dale Ellis, he made the NCAA Tournament each of his first five years on Rocky Top. But this year, Tennessee basketball was struggling.

With Tony White as a freshman, the Vols at one point were 13-11 and 5-8 in the SEC. They lost to the Kentucky Wildcats on the road by nearly 20 earlier in the season. However, they were having a strong finish to the season, and with two games left, Kentucky rolled into town ranked No. 4. The Vols, meanwhile, put together a three-game winning streak to that point.

The 21-3 Wildcats came in with a chance to clinch the SEC. But after a defensive struggle, they only led 23-22 at the end of the first half. Then the Vols got red-hot. Down 33-31 at one point in the second half, UT went on a 19-4 run and just dominated UK. They were all of a sudden up 50-37 and never really let Kentucky threaten after that. Sure, the game finished with a 63-58 result, but that was just Kentucky making a late run.

This game wasn’t enough to get DeVoe’s team into the NCAA Tournament, but it was still a thriling victory. They got a first-round bye in the SEC Tournament as a result of what happened and did make it to the NIT Quarterfinal.

Home/Vols Basketball