Kentucky was set to return to Rupp Arena with its winning streak at nine games thanks to the play of its freshmen in the win over Tennessee.
Forwards Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Anthony Davis combined for 35 points and 20 rebounds and guard Marquis Teague turned in probably his best defensive game to help the Wildcats rally to their 65-62 win at Tennessee.
"We got out-physicalled again in the first half," coach John Calipari said after the Wildcats went to the locker room down six points at the break. "The same guys got pushed, shoved and couldn't come up with the ball -- and were accepting it.
"The thing we had was our young players had a will to win."
Teague took on the defensive assignment against Tennessee's Trae Golden and held the Vols' leading scorer to just two points, more than 12 under his season average.
"Marquis Teague guarded," Calipari said. "That's the first game he's guarded. He knew that kid was averaging 20 a game the last four games. So he went out and said, 'You know what, I'm going to guard my man and I'm going to make this tough on him.'
"And he did."
Kentucky improved to 3-0 in the SEC and 17-1 in all games going into their next two against Arkansas and Alabama, both at home.
NOTES, QUOTES
Sophomore F Terrence Jones reached double-figures for a fourth straight game, against Tennessee, but barely. He fouled out at Tennessee with 3:55 left with 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting.
Over those four games, all starts, he went 20-of-35 from the field (58.8 percent) and averaged 13.0 points a game.
Freshman F Kyle Wiltjer didn't have big numbers in the win over Tennessee, only five points in nine minutes, but his contribution didn't get overlooked.
"When you're in a game like this and he makes that three and he makes those two free throws -- he did what we needed him to do," coach John Calipari said of Wiltjer's key points.
It had reached the point where it had become virtually inevitable, but F Anthony Davis set a freshman record when he blocked four shots against Tennessee, raising his season total to 82. That was just one shy of the school record set by Andre Riddick as a junior in the 1993-94 season.
QUOTE TO NOTE
"If we want to be unique and special, we're either going to get tougher and negate the physical play people are using on us or we're just going to be another team out there trying to win as many as we can. That's it. We talked better today, but we still need to execute better." -- Coach John Calipari, after Kentucky's comeback win at Tennessee.
