Do you want the bad news first? Sorry, I'm an optimist: the Cats are on a slight uptick. Three straight wins, one against their archrival, one on the road in a place that's given them fits in the past.
Now for the bad: Kentucky hasn't gone on the road to play a team with the firepower of this Tennessee team. In the strange days of just a couple weeks ago, the Vols were one of the nation's surprise teams and looking like a bona fide top 15 squad. They beat Purdue, punched Villanova in the face, and took North Carolina to the wire. So this team has talent.
More bad: Thompson-Bowling is a sell-out, I'm sure it'll be orange t-shirt night, Tennessee will be ripped at having lost two in a row, and it'll be a madhouse. Can you take even more? Kentucky has walked into that building in the past with much better teams than this and have gotten served. Outside of Vandy, it's arguably the toughest place to play in the league. Historically it's just been a nightmare.
Yet Tennessee comes in giving up a wild amount of points their last two games. On the season the things you can count on with them is teamwide shooting and the play of Grant Williams, who has been one of the SEC's most surprising players. The Vols will play smallball against us and try to drive the basketball, a tactic that almost worked when LSU did the same thing.
We have advantages inside, but for us to win this game we're going to have to get a better effort from Nick Richards and PJ Washington is going to have to be the beast we saw in Baton Rouge. If not this could be a really long night. And when I say "long night," I mean we could easily get pounded.
Unfortunately I think it's going to be one of those long nights.
Kentucky 71
Tennessee 83
Now for the bad: Kentucky hasn't gone on the road to play a team with the firepower of this Tennessee team. In the strange days of just a couple weeks ago, the Vols were one of the nation's surprise teams and looking like a bona fide top 15 squad. They beat Purdue, punched Villanova in the face, and took North Carolina to the wire. So this team has talent.
More bad: Thompson-Bowling is a sell-out, I'm sure it'll be orange t-shirt night, Tennessee will be ripped at having lost two in a row, and it'll be a madhouse. Can you take even more? Kentucky has walked into that building in the past with much better teams than this and have gotten served. Outside of Vandy, it's arguably the toughest place to play in the league. Historically it's just been a nightmare.
Yet Tennessee comes in giving up a wild amount of points their last two games. On the season the things you can count on with them is teamwide shooting and the play of Grant Williams, who has been one of the SEC's most surprising players. The Vols will play smallball against us and try to drive the basketball, a tactic that almost worked when LSU did the same thing.
We have advantages inside, but for us to win this game we're going to have to get a better effort from Nick Richards and PJ Washington is going to have to be the beast we saw in Baton Rouge. If not this could be a really long night. And when I say "long night," I mean we could easily get pounded.
Unfortunately I think it's going to be one of those long nights.
Kentucky 71
Tennessee 83
Anyway, I'm guessing UT 89, UK 77.
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