Rick Barnes states the obvious after Tennessee's awful loss to Kentucky

For the second consecutive game, the Tennessee Vols basketball team had a great opportunity to take down a Top 15 team, but they blew it late. Just like in the loss to No. 1 Auburn, UT struggled down the stretch on Tuesday night in a 78-73 loss to No. 14 Kentucky.

This was a brutal home loss and one that really should have never been posted. What makes things so frustrating for fans is that Tennessee went 2-of-13 from 3-point land with less than five minutes to go, with the team depending on the deep ball and not connecting.

For the night, the Vols went 11-of-45 from downtown, a 24.4 percent rate. That's never going to cut it no matter who they're playing against. After the loss, head coach Rick Barnes was asked about the poor shooting and he didn't hold back with his answer:

Rick Barnes was not happy with Tennessee taking 45 3-pointers vs. Kentucky

Right now, Kentucky fans are not only celebrating the win over Tennessee, but they're also doing quite a bit of trolling too. It's something everyone in Knoxville hates to see, especially with this being a game Tennessee had no business losing.

The shooting has gone flat in recent games, which has been quite surprising. We hate to pile on standout Chaz Lanier, but he went from being reliable with the ball in his hands for the Vols to being someone who's clearly in a bit of a shooting funk.

Lanier finished with 15 points in the loss to Kentucky, going 5-of-14 from the floor, including 3-for-10 on his 3-point tries. It wasn't long ago that Lanier was in the SEC Player of the Year conversation, but he's playing himself out of that honor.

Come Saturday, Tennessee will host No. 5 Florida, looking for revenge following the 30-point loss earlier in the campaign. We're stating the obvious here, but the Vols can't have another off day shooting if they want to take down one of the top teams in the country. The game plan needs to change and it's on Barnes to make sure his players listen up.