Jaxson Robinson leads Kentucky basketball to Tennessee upset
Yesterday at 11:13 PM
Kentucky basketball has looked like one of the best teams in college basketball at times this season, but just about nobody is immune to the absolute gauntlet that is SEC basketball this season. Mark Pope and company came into a huge matchup with No. 8 Tennessee on Tuesday night at just 3-3 in conference play despite being ranked in the top 15.
Despite playing in a hostile environment on the road in Knoxville, Pope’s squad showed why it deserves to be back in the top 10. Kentucky used a complete team effort to pull off the minor upset and pick up a critical 78-73 victory.
Kentucky got off to a very good start in this game, jumping out to an early lead and stunning the Tennessee crowd. However, the momentum didn’t last long for the Wildcats as Tennessee quickly climbed back into the game and took a 33-30 lead at the half.
In the second half, while Tennessee was trying to mange the injury to star point guard Zakai Zeigler, Kentucky took advantage early on. The Wildcats started the second half on a 15-6 run to get out to a six-point lead, and they never looked back. The lead stretched as far as 11 before Tennessee knocked down a few huge shots to get the crowd back in it and give themselves a chance to win, but good free throw shooting by Kentucky and a missed 3-pointer by Jordan Gainey to tie the game in the final 10 seconds gave Pope’s club the win.
Kentucky finished this game with five scorers in double figures led by Koby Brea with 18 points and Jaxson Robinson with 17 points. However, it was a team effort from the Wildcats to get a massive road win.
This was a much-needed result for Kentucky after a very tough loss to Vanderbilt on the road on Saturday. An 0-2 road trip would have put the Wildcats at 3-4 in conference play and left them struggling for a middle seed in the conference tournament. Now, however, they head into February with a lot of momentum as the schedule lightens up just a little bit.
Kentucky will be back in action on Saturday in John Calipari’s return to Rupp Arena when Arkansas comes to Lexington. Then, Kentucky will play on the road at Ole Miss before a home date with South Carolina, so Pope and company have a chance to build off of this Tennessee win and get on a bit of a roll here. If they can, they should be right in the mix to be one of the top seeds in the conference tournament when March rolls around.
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