TAMPA, Fla. — The Kentucky-Tennessee game in Saturday’s semifinal round of the Southeastern Conference tournament could be billed as a showdown of a highly rated offense against a top defense.
Kentucky ranked No. 1 among SEC schools in scoring — and No. 12 among Division I schools.
Tennessee ranked third among SEC teams — and 29th in Division I — in points scored by the opposition.
Defense won out.
With Kentucky shooting 34.4% from the field, Tennessee won 69-62 to advance to Sunday’s championship game.
The Vols (25-7) will play Texas A&M, which defeated Arkansas in the first semifinal matchup.
Texas A&M will attempt to be the second 8-seed to win the SEC tournament. Auburn did so in 1985, defeating Ole Miss, LSU, Florida and Alabama.
A&M, which joined the SEC in 2012-13, advanced beyond the second round for only the second time. The Aggies made it to the championship game in 2016, losing to Kentucky in overtime 82-77.
Kentucky made only two of 20 3-point shots. But UK avoided equaling the record for the fewest 3-point shots made in a SEC tournament game since the event was renewed in 1979 when TyTy Washington made the team’s second with 2:29 left.
Davion Mintz made none of his six shots (three from 3-point range). Kellan Grady, who came into the game ranked sixth nationally in 3-point shooting accuracy, made none of his five attempts, and one of eight shots overall.
Little went right for Kentucky in the first half. The Cats made only eight of 29 shots and missed all eight of their 3-point attempts.
Oscar Tshiebwe picked up his second foul and went to the bench with 11:32 left after having scored three points and grabbed two rebounds.
It added up to an uphill climb as Kentucky fell behind for good barely three minutes into the game (the 16:55 mark to be exact).
With Kennedy Chandler leading the way, Tennessee expanded its lead to 18-8 on the freshman’s 3-pointer with 12:01 left.
Kentucky had repeatedly noted that it had plenty of possible players who could step up when needed. Against Tennessee, that player was Keion Brooks.
After Kentucky had missed 16 of its first 20 shots, he dunked a lob pass with 7:49 left. That was only UK’s second basket in eight-plus minutes.
Brooks contributed a put-back and 4-of-4 free-throw shooting to a mini-run hat brought Kentucky within 23-18.
Although the largely partisan UK crowd roared its approval, Tennessee did not wilt. Chandler began and ended a 10-4 mini-run that gave the Vols a 33-22 halftime lead.
Kentucky’s big three from the perimeter — Grady, Mintz and Washington — combined to make only four of 18 shots before the break.
Kentucky had trailed at halftime only six times this season. UK lost four of those six games. One of the losses came at Tennessee when UK trailed 46-32 at halftime.
As if making up for lost time, Tshiebwe led a Kentucky charge early in the second half. He scored three of UK’s first five baskets. With Brooks scoring the other two, the deficit twice shrunk to six points.
Tennessee answered. A driving basket by Chandler slowed UK’s momentum. Then after Brooks missed a floater, Tennessee “big” Brandon Huntley-Hatfield beat his UK counterparts downcourt for a fast-break layup that put the Vols ahead 43-33.
That prompted a Kentucky timeout with 14:49 left. An angry frown and a dramatically dismissive swing of his arms suggested coach John Calipari was not happy.
If so, Kentucky’s first possession after the timeout probably did not improve his mood. Brooks threw a high fastball of a pass that whizzed out of bounds well above Mintz standing in the corner.
The next couple minutes did not restore hope.
John Fulkerson’s two free throws put Tennessee ahead 45-33 with 13:32 left. That marked UK’s largest deficit yet.
On UK’s next possession, Mintz had to call timeout when he couldn’t inbounds the ball.
Kentucky’s deficit — and surely BBN concern — grew to 46-33 when Jonas Aidoo banked in a free throw with 12:42 left.
The nadir for UK might have come when Washington, Sahvir Wheeler and Mintz all missed 3-point shots in one trip downcourt. That made the Cats zero for 11 on shots from beyond the arc.
Tennessee’s lead reached its zenith at 51-37 with 8:50 left.
Brooks, who had made only six of 27 3-point shots this season, hit UK’s first. It came after the team missed its first 11 and brought Kentucky within 55-46 with 6:51 left.
When Kentucky got within 55-49, Chandler made a baseline cut, took a pass and scored a layup.
Kentucky’s hope to somehow win seemed to die shortly after the final television timeout.
Tshiebwe picked up his fourth foul on a Fulkerson scoring attempt with 3:15 left. His fifth foul came 13 seconds later when he was called for pushing Fulkerson as he tried to establish position.
Still, Kentucky competed to the final seconds.
Washington’s free throws with 1:31 left narrowed the deficit to 65-62. After Santiago Vescovi made one of two free throws with 58.4 seconds left, Brooks missed a 3-pointer.
A fitting punctuation came with Tennessee ahead 68-62 inside the final 20 seconds. Mintz and Wheeler missed 3s.
