Tennessee bounces back from blowout loss to Kentucky with a blowout win over Kentucky

With the way people had been talking about Tennessee, you would’ve thought the Vols were something less than 25-3. But that’s exactly what they were Saturday morning. They were 25-3 with a win over No. 1 Gonzaga and zero losses at home or to teams outside of the top 15 of the current Associated Press poll.

Yes, UT was just 2-2 in its previous four games; that’s what created the skeptics. But the first of those losses was at No. 4 Kentucky while the second came at No. 13 LSU. In other words, they were just road losses to really good opponents. Nothing more. So, hand to heart, I never understood why so many people were freaking out about Rick Barnes’ team in advance of Tennessee’s rematch with Kentucky

Hopefully folks will calm down now.

Truth is, no matter what you heard, Tennessee was never anything but legit. And Saturday afternoon served as a reminder thanks to the Volunteers dominating Kentucky pretty much from the opening tip to the final buzzer en route to a 71-52 blowout inside Thompson-Boling Arena.

“People who said Tennessee wasn’t good after we beat them in our house are crazy,” Kentucky coach John Calipari told reporters afterward. “That’s a great team. … We got beat every which way. We didn’t have it.”

Tennessee did, though.

The Vols looked way more like themselves than they did two Saturdays ago when they launched 42.4 percent of their field goal attempts from beyond the arc, missed 18 of their 25 attempts, and lost 86-69. On this Saturday, the Vols played more inside the arc, where they are, statistically, far more effective. Only 35.5 percent of their field goal attempts were 3-point attempts in the rematch. UT finished 8-of-22 on 3-pointers, 19-of-42 on 2-pointers and never let the Wildcats get closer than 13 points in the final 20 minutes.

UT also held UK to 31.8 percent shooting.

“This might have been the best defense we’ve played all year,” Barnes said.

So now Tennessee is 26-3 overall, 14-2 in the SEC and tied with LSU atop the league standings with two regular-season games remaining. Kentucky is a game back of the Vols and Tigers. For what it’s worth, KenPom now projects Tennessee and LSU to share the SEC championship — with UK finishing alone in third. And because LSU beat Tennessee last weekend, the Tigers would be the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament, if things break this way, meaning our next Tennessee-Kentucky showdown could come in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament on March 16 inside Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.

Wouldn’t that be fun?

In the meantime, here’s hoping everybody keeps proper perspective after another lopsided result between these two. When Tennessee was handled easily inside Rupp Arena, I told anybody who’d listen that, in my mind, it was merely a road loss to a very good team. No big deal. And now that Kentucky was just handled easily inside Thompson-Boling Arena (without the injured Reid Travis, it should be noted), I’ll say something similar, and that something is this: it’s merely a road loss to a very good team. No big deal.

Kentucky is still good just like Tennessee was always good.

Either is capable of beating the other.

Both are legit Final Four contenders.