Tennessee basketball’s top 10 regular season wins of 2010s
8. At No. 24 Kentucky Wildcats
Feb. 6, 2018
No. 15 Tennessee Volunteers win 61-59
SEC regular season game (Rupp Arena; Lexington, Ky.)
Beating the Kentucky Wildcats in Rupp Arena is always legendary. This was the only time during the 2010s decade Tennessee basketball had accomplished that feat. And if the Purdue Boilermakers win proved the Vols had arrived as a program under Rick Barnes, this win proved they weren’t going anywhere.
At the time, UT was on a five-game winning streak and had won eight of nine, starting with a win over Kentucky back in January. However, Rupp is where the Vols go to hit reality. They hadn’t won there since 2006, Bruce Pearl’s first year. Well, they made sure that wouldn’t happen here.
In one of the closest games in school history, the largest lead anybody had was four points, and that was only once for 10 seconds with under five minutes to go when UT led 50-46. Kentucky appeared to be in control late, as they went up 58-56 and then got a stop, controlling the ball with 50 seconds left. That’s when different leaders stepped up.
Kyle Alexander got a steal, and Lamonte Turner hit a three to put the Vols up by one with 28 seconds left. Then Jordan Bowden got a steal and found Admiral Schofield for a dunk. UT fouled up three with a second left, Kentucky couldn’t get the offensive rebound on the second free throw, and the Vols won 61-59. Turner, Bowden Schofield and Williams all hit double figures.