No. 6 Kentucky Hosts Tennessee for Senior Night
Days removed from clinching outright the 49th Southeastern Conference regular-season championship in school history, Kentucky will seek to put the finishing touches on another successful home season.
The No. 6/6 Wildcats (24-5, 14-2 SEC) will host Tennessee (16-13, 8-8 SEC) at 9 p.m. on Tuesday.
Tuesday’s game will mark the home finale for UK, which is entering the final week of the regular season. The Cats have won 15 straight at home and are a perfect 8-0 in SEC play this season at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center, most recently clinching the SEC title on Saturday against Auburn in front of a season-high 20,638 fans.
Immanuel Quickley, continuing his SEC Player of the Year and All-America charge, had 18 points and 12 rebounds in the victory over the No. 15 Tigers. On Monday, Quickley was named co-SEC Player of the Week, earning the honor in consecutive weeks. Tyrese Maxey added 17 points, seven rebounds and four assists, while Nick Richards and Nate Sestina added 14 points and 11 points, respectively.
Kentucky will celebrate Senior Night for Sestina prior to the game, with festivities set to begin at 8:43 p.m. The Emporium, Pennsylvania, native will soon complete his lone season as a graduate transfer for the Wildcats after a decorated career at Bucknell. Sestina recently surpassed 1,000 points for his career when he scored 11 crucial points in a hard-fought win at LSU on Feb. 18.
The game between UK and Tennessee will be a rematch of a 77-64 Wildcat win in Knoxville, Tennessee, on Feb. 8. Quickley scored 18 points in the victory, while Richards and Maxey each chipped in 15. A pair of freshman reserves – Johnny Juzang and Keion Brooks Jr. came off the bench to make major contributions, with Juzang scoring a career-high 13 points and Brooks posting four points and nine rebounds.
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| Kentucky vs. Tennessee | ||
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Tue., March 3 – 9 p.m. ET |
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TV: ESPN |
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| UK | Stats | UT |
| 24-5 | Record | 16-13 |
| 14-2 | Conference Record | 8-8 |
| 74.6 | PPG | 66.7 |
| 65.3 | Opp PPG | 63.2 |
| .461 | FG% | .432 |
| .387 | Opp FG% | .397 |
| 37.2 | RPG | 34.9 |
| .331 | 3PT FG% | .306 |
| .299 | Opp 3PT FG% | .321 |
| 13.7 | APG | 14.7 |
| 5.2 | SPG | 6.0 |
| 5.1 | BPG | 5.8 |
The victory over the Volunteers was the second in an ongoing streak of eight straight wins for Kentucky, which has surged in the polls and reemerged as a national championship contender in the process. UK has also won 16 of its last 18 outings dating back to a thrilling overtime win over rival Louisville on Dec. 28.
Quickley, Maxey Lead No. 8 Kentucky Past No. 15 Auburn to Secure SEC Title
Other than a couple of instances, Kentucky has needed every possession to first gain an edge and then keep it in a gauntlet of close victories.
The No. 8 Wildcats followed the same pattern to answer yet another challenge against No. 15 Auburn, earning a win along with another Southeastern Conference title.
Immanuel Quickley had 18 points and a career-high 12 rebounds, Kentucky used a big run in the first half before holding off the Tigers and clinching the SEC regular season championship — the 49th in school history — with a 73-66 victory Saturday.
A season-high crowd of 20,638 cheered loudly after the final horn, but the Wildcats exited the court like any other game. They soon received blue-and-white baseball caps signifying their achievement that required eight consecutive wins this month — six by a total of 38 points.
“It’s just good for this team,” said Quickley, who shot 3 of 10 but made a big impact with all of his rebounds on the defensive end. “I think a lot of people doubted us early. We lost a couple of tough games in (Las) Vegas and people questioned if we could get to this point and eventually get to a Final Four or a championship or something like that. We stayed faithful to the grind and trusted the process.”
It’s the sixth regular-season SEC title for John Calipari in 11 seasons at Kentucky, but Calipari has his eyes set on bigger goals in March after his team bounced back from an 8-3 start that included a loss at home to Evansville and back-to-back losses in Las Vegas to Utah and Ohio State.
“Look, I never stopped believing in this group,” Calipari said. “I said after Vegas, ‘We’ll be fine.’ I said it. ‘We’ll be fine.’ But I wasn’t sure about this, where this is going, but I knew we’d be fine. We’d be a team that would be playing, and we’d be playing in March. And the run that these guys have put together — and I come back to the same thing, you’ve got to have five, six games, get 25 points in a game, and maybe multiple games. You must do that, because they have to be able to go in that tournament and know, I can do it if I have to.”
The Wildcats (24-5, 14-2) entered with a two-game lead on the second-place Tigers (24-5, 11-5) but had to overcome a 20-11 deficit before responding with the 20-3 spurt over 5:47 and eventually build an eight-point advantage. Auburn fought back to within 53-50 early in the second half, but Kentucky stayed ahead in a foul-plagued half by making 14 free throws down the stretch. That included seven by Quickley, who made all 11 from the line.
Kentucky made 27 of 33 free throws while Auburn hit 13 of 22 in a game featuring 23 fouls by each team. The schools also finished with 38 rebounds each, which helped the Tigers outscore the Wildcats 12-5 in second-chance points.
Auburn fought to within a possession at times but couldn’t get even. Meanwhile, Kentucky pushed the ball inside to create chances at the line and convert enough of them to offset 42% shooting, including 2 of 13 from beyond the arc.
“We knocked some free throws late and Immanuel always knocks down his free throws,” said Kentucky guard Tyrese Maxey, who made 7 of 8 to finish with 17 points. “I tried to make some a little bit, so I don’t get in trouble.”
Nick Richards scored 14 points and Nate Sestina 11 off the bench as the Wildcats avenged a 75-66 loss to Auburn on Feb. 1.
Of additional note …
• UK improved to 95-21 all-time vs. Auburn and 49-2 in games played in Lexington. It was UK’s 18th straight win over Auburn in Rupp Arena
• Kentucky held Auburn to 36.1%. UK is 202-19 (91.4%) under Calipari when keeping the opponent to 40% or less, including 15-3 this season
• UK is now 8-1 this season when making three or fewer 3-pointers
• Entering the game leading the SEC at 79.3% at the foul line, Kentucky made 27 of 33 free throws (81.8%). UK has made at least 75% at the line in 12 straight games
• Free throws made the difference in both of the games this season vs. Auburn. On Feb. 1, Auburn made 33 of 44 at the charity stripe while UK hit 20 of 24. In the second matchup, UK made 27 of 33 while Auburn got 13 of 22
• Kentucky is 8-2 all-time on games played on Leap Day, with a seven-game winning streak, and has not lost on Leap Day since 1936
• UK is 63-33 vs. Associated Press Top 25 foes under Calipari
• It was Quickley’s second double-double of the season and 18th straight game in double figures. He’s averaging 19.1 points per game during that stretch and shooting 46.5% from long range
• Maxey continues to play his best against the best, averaging 19 points per game against UK’s six ranked opponents
The Champs are Here
Kentucky won the 2020 Southeastern Conference regular-season championship with the win over Auburn and doing so with two games to spare. Not only did the win ensure league hardware is headed to Lexington and secures the No. 1 seed for the Wildcats in the SEC Tournament, it added to Kentucky’s impressive dominance of the league and John Calipari’s continued success in conference play.
• It was the Wildcats’ 49th regular-season SEC title. That’s 38 more than the next-closest school (LSU with 11) and nearly as many as the rest of the league has combined (53). It’s worth noting UK would have 50 titles had the 1988 championship not been vacated by the league due to violations
• It’s UK’s first league title since 2017
• The SEC regular-season championship is the Wildcats’ sixth in 11 seasons under Calipari
• It’s Calipari’s 16th all-time regular-season conference crown, including his time at Memphis and UMass. Including his 15 league tournament titles, Calipari has 31 combined conference championships in his career. That trails only Mark Few of Gonzaga (34 titles with the West Coast Conference regular-season title in 2020) among all active coaches. All-time, Calipari trails only the great Adolph Rupp (41) and Few.
Kentucky to Honor Nate Sestina on Senior Day
Kentucky will celebrate graduate transfer Nate Sestina on Tuesday for Senior Day. The Wildcats are 95-19 all-time on Senior Day, including a perfect 9-0 mark under John Calipari. UK did not have a senior on its roster for the 2017-18 season.
The ceremony will include a video tribute, 20,500 fans singing “My Old Kentucky Home” and the presentation of a framed jersey for each player. The ceremony, which the late Al McGuire once called “the most touching moment in all of sports” will begin at approximately 8:43 p.m.
Sestina transferred to Kentucky before the season from Bucknell, where he enjoyed a terrific first four seasons. At Bucknell, he was a Second Team All-Patriot League and PL All-Tournament Team selection his senior season despite not starting a single game prior to his final season at Bucknell. Adding to his successful senior campaign, he was a National Association of Basketball Coaches All-District Team selection and ranked second on the team and sixth in the Patriot League in scoring at 15.8 points per game.
The Pennsylvania native paced the Bison and ranked second in the league in rebounding at 8.5 boards per outing. He shot 53.6% from the field, 38.0% from 3-point range and 80.8% from the free-throw line. He scored in double figures 40 times at Bucknell with 11 double-doubles.
At Kentucky, with another young and inexperienced team, Sestina has been just what the doctor ordered, providing steady leadership, timely 3-pointers and a strong vocal presence. He is averaging 5.8 points and 3.8 rebounds per game, scored in double figures four times and posted a double-double vs. Eastern Kentucky.
With a breakthrough 11-point, eight-rebound day at LSU two weeks ago, he passed 1,000 points for his career. He also scored 11 points Saturday vs. Auburn for his second double-figure scoring game in the last four outings.
Earlier this season, he was named to the 30-man Senior CLASS Award list. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Senior CLASS Award honors student-athletes who excel both on and off the court. Candidates must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence in community, classroom, character and competition to be eligible for the award.
Sestina graduated from Bucknell University in May with a degree in geography before transferring to Kentucky as a graduate student this summer. He is enrolled in UK’s master’s program in health promotion with an emphasis in sport leadership. While at Bucknell, he was a 2019 Patriot League Academic Honor Roll member during his senior season as well as being a part of the dean’s list.
Sestina’s father, Donald, mother, Rachelle, and sister Kristin, are expectedto be in attendance for the Senior Day festivities.
