#24/RV Vols Come up Short against Kentucky, 80-78

Saturday, January 17

Knoxville, TN

12 PM ET

University of Tennessee

12-6,2-3SEC

Kentucky

12-6,3-2SEC

Kentucky

Tennessee

January 17, 2026 | Men's Basketball

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee men's basketball team built a 17-point lead late in the first half Saturday afternoon against Kentucky, but dropped an 80-78 decision at a sold-out Food City Center.

Senior guard Ja'Kobi Gillespie paced all scorers with 24 points for No. 24/RV Tennessee (12-6, 2-3 SEC) in a contest it did not trail until the final minute.

The Volunteers scored 11 consecutive early points over just 2:16 to grab a 12-point advantage, 20-8, after just 6:14 of action. Kentucky (12-6, 3-2 SEC) responded by making three straight shots, including two from deep, to post an 8-2 surge in 78 seconds and get within six, 22-16, at the 11:55 mark.

Tennessee quickly answered and, buoyed by seven consecutive points in 66 seconds, claimed a 36-20 edge with 6:49 to go in the frame. It was 5-of-8 from deep at that time, including a 3-of-4 clip from Gillespie who then had 14 points.

The Volunteers, aided by forcing five misses in a row and not allowing a field goal for 7:32, pushed their margin to a game-best 17, 41-24, with 3:25 on the timer. Kentucky scored seven unanswered points in 57 seconds to get their deficit to 10 with 1:43 left, but a Tennessee free throw ended the first-half scoring and made it 42-31 at the break. The home team shot 6-of-13 (46.2 percent) on 3-pointers in the opening session and tallied an 8-1 cushion on the offensive glass.

After Tennessee started the second-half scoring, Kentucky went on an 11-4 run—it featured back-to-back 3-pointers by senior guard Denzel Aberdeen—in 3:14 to climb within six, 48-42, with 15:12 to play. The visitors continued to chip away from there and cut the margin to four, 55-51, on a 3-pointer with 11:53 remaining. That was the first of three straight possessions with a made long-range shot for Kentucky, all of which trimmed the deficit to four.

The Wildcats moved to 11-of-22 from deep on a shot by senior guard Otega Oweh, his first field goal of the game after seven misses, with 7:52 to go to make it a three-point game, 65-62. A three-point play on their next trip down the floor, after a Tennessee basket, made it 67-65 just 29 ticks later.

Tennessee scored eight of the next 12 points to pull ahead by a half-dozen, 75-69, with 4:54 on the clock, but the Wildcats answered with six of the next seven to make it 76-75 with 1:46 left.

Kentucky took its first lead of the game, 78-77, on a layup by Oweh with 34 seconds left. He missed the and-one free throw, but the Wildcats got the rebound and scored to go up by three, 80-77, with 16 ticks to go.

Gillespie hit a free throw with two seconds left and intentionally missed the second, but the ball bounced around until the clock hit triple-zeroes.

In addition to leading all players in scoring, Gillespie also did so in assists by notching eight, one shy of his season best. He finished 6-of-12 from the floor, 4-of-7 beyond the arc and 8-of-12 at the stripe.

Freshman forward Nate Ament finished with 17 points for the Volunteers, 14 of which came after halftime. He went 8-of-9 from the free-throw line.

Aberdeen scored 22 points for the Wildcats, including 18 during a second half in which he was 7-of-10 from the floor, with a 3-of-5 long-range mark. Oweh scored 12 points despite going 3-of-11 from the field, 1-of-5 on 3-pointers and 5-of-9 at the line.

Sophomore guard Colin Chandler recorded 12 points on a 4-of-6 clip from beyond the arc. Freshman guard Jasper Johnson tallied 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting, all in a first half when he made his first five attempts. Junior forward Mouhamed Dioubate chipped in 10 points and a co-team-high six rebounds for Kentucky.

The Wildcats had a 13-8 advantage in offensive rebounds in the second half and, ultimately, finished with a 19-7 cushion in second-chance points. That proved key, as the two sides amassed nearly identical shooting clips.

Tennessee had a 47.2 percent (25-of-53) ledger from the field, a 42.1 percent (8-of-19) mark beyond the arc and a 69.0 percent (20-of-29) tally at the line. Kentucky, meanwhile, shot 47.5 percent (28-of-59) on field goals, a 45.8 percent (11-of-24) count on 3-pointers and a 61.9 percent (13-of-21) ledger from the stripe.

The Volunteers now have a midweek bye before resuming play Saturday at 8:30 p.m. at No. 18 Alabama, live on ESPN or ESPN2 from Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

To keep up with the University of Tennessee men's basketball team on social media, follow @Vol_Hoops on Instagram and X/Twitter, as well as /tennesseebasketball on Facebook.

TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS POSTGAME NOTES
• The Volunteers notched their second regular season sellout of 2025-26, joining the Dec. 16 matchup with Louisville.
• The 21,678 fans in the building Saturday tied for the fourth-highest single-game attendance of the season thus far in college basketball, equaling Tennessee's matchup with Louisville.
• Tennessee now owns 26 sellouts over the last five seasons—two in 2025-26, eight in 2024-25, eight in 2023-24, five in 2022-23 and three in 2021-22—and possesses a 21-5 record in those games, including a 16-3 count since Feb. 15, 2023.
• The Volunteers fell to 39-16 all-time in Food City Center sellouts, including 34-14 since the 2007-08 capacity reduction and 28-8 under head coach Rick Barnes.
• Tennessee is now 97-35 all-time when playing in front of 20,000-plus fans at Food City Center, including 38-11 in Barnes' tenure, with 34 of the latter 49 over the past five seasons (2021-26).
• Barnes, who has four more wins over the Wildcats than any other active coach, dropped to 13-15 against Kentucky as a head coach, remaining tied with Dean Smith for the sixth-most such wins all-time.
• Tennessee fell to 12-13 against Kentucky in the Barnes era (2015-16) after going 9-35 in the 22 seasons (1993-2025) before his arrival.
• Saturday marked the eighth consecutive series meeting with Tennessee ranked ahead of Kentucky, doubling the Volunteers' prior longest stretch (Feb. 1, 2000, to Feb. 14, 2001).
• The five-game streak of ranked matchups—all were top-20 showdowns—between the Volunteers and Wildcats came to an end Saturday.
• The Volunteers fell for just the fourth time in Barnes' 11-year tenure when holding a double-digit lead at halftime, now sitting 115-4 (.966) in such contests.
• Tennessee has logged double-digit offensive rebounds in 17 of 18 games this year, with 15-plus in 11 outings, 18-plus five times and 20-plus four times, with a high of 24.
• The Volunteers have grabbed at least 35 total boards in 15 of 18 contests, with 43-plus in nine, 47-plus in seven and 50-plus in five, with a top tally of 60.
• The Wildcats did log their first offensive board until 3:00 remained in the first half—Tennessee had six at that time—on a team rebound.
• Tennessee committed four personal fouls in the game, all on the defensive end, in the first 1:25 of the second half.
• The Volunteers led Kentucky for 38:42 and trailed for just 34 seconds, while the score was tied for only 44 ticks.
• Junior forward Jaylen Carey, who had a game-high seven rebounds with six on the offensive end, earned the third start of his career, including his second as a Volunteer, joining the Nov. 3 season opener versus Mercer.
• Gillespie's eight assists marked his most in an SEC contest, eclipsing the prior high of five he posted Jan. 6 against Texas and Jan. 13 versus Texas A&M.
• Gillespie registered the 22nd 20-point performance of his career, including his eighth this year as a Volunteer.
• The 12 free-throw attempts for Gillespie set a new career best, surpassing his prior best of 11 on Feb. 26, 2025, against Michigan State, while at Maryland.
• Ament scored 17-plus points for the ninth time this season, across just 18 outings, and hit that mark for the third game in a row.
• Freshman forward DeWayne Brown II registered multiple blocks in a contest for the first time in his young career, after owning just three total through his initial 15 appearances.