Tennessee basketball lost its fourth conference game of the season on Tuesday night, 78-73, to Kentucky at home. This is another disappointing loss, as the Vols' struggle has largely come on the road, but this home loss exposed Tennessee on both ends of the court.
The Vols struggled to stop the Wildcats' offense, and Kentucky's defense put together one of the season's best performances. Kentucky's 78 points are the most Tennessee has allowed this season.
That means Kentucky put together its best defensive performance of the season, while Tennessee put together its worst performance.
Tennessee's defensive performance was completely opposite of its defensive performance against Auburn. The Vols shut down the Tigers' offense but couldn't do enough to stop the Wildcats on offense.
It didn't help that Tennessee struggled to hit open shots as the Vols offense continued to struggle. Tennessee missed 23 open three-point shots, while Kentucky shot 50% on open shots.
Rick Barnes must find a way to overcome their shooting struggles. The Vols' schedule won't get any easier with multiple ranked opponents still on it.
Tennessee is only shooting 30.2% from three-point range during conference play, which isn't going to cut it come March. That's a drastic change from shooting 45% from three-point range during non-conference play.
Despite the shooting struggle from beyond the arc, Barnes is confident Tennessee will make the necessary shots to win in March.
"I'm hoping at the right time, we're going to knock them down, you know? Teams go through it," Barnes said after the Kentucky loss. "I do think we can shoot the ball. I do."
Tennessee has a few different shooting options that can help them win against any team in the country, and when the defense is clicking, they can be locked down, but that wasn't the case on Tuesday against Kentucky.
The Vols face another tough battle this weekend as the No. 5 Florida Gators come to Knoxville to take on Tennessee. The last time the two teams played, Florida routed Tennessee with a 30-point win.