Big Blue Preview: Kentucky vs. Tennessee (NCAA Tournament Sweet 16)
On Friday night, Kentucky and Tennessee will meet for the third time this season. This matchup will come in the Sweet 16 of the 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis (7:39 p.m. ET, TBS).
Kentucky won each of the first two matchups this season. On Jan. 28 in Knoxville, UK played without point guard Lamont Butler and essentially without power forward Andrew Carr (he played less than two minutes). But the Cats placed five players in double figures, led by 18 points from Koby Brea, on the way to a 78-73 win.
On Feb. 11 at Rupp Arena, Kentucky got 13 points apiece from Ansley Almonor and Otega Oweh on the way to a 75-64 win over the Vols. UK was able to hold UT to 3 of 18 (16.7%) shooting from behind the arc in the victory.
Now, Kentucky will try to beat Tennessee three times in a season for the first time since 2005. UK head coach Mark Pope takes a little from the previous two games this season but thinks this game stands alone.
“If we really parse details, there’s certainly, maybe the emotional advantage of winning two that you feel like you know you can,” Pope said. “There’s the strategic side of coming to know to consider you might have a better idea of, if you’re going to make changes, a better idea of how and why. But I think that’s like the .1 percent. I think mostly this is a free-standing game. This is a great Tennessee team. It’s one of the top teams in the country. It’s the best defensive team in the country. They have one of the best offensive teams in the country.”
Brea doesn’t think the Cats need to change much, despite seeing the Vols twice already this season.
“I don’t think we have to do anything different,” Brea said. “I think we’ve got to do the same thing against every team, continue to be ourselves. We trust each other on the court. We know what we’re capable of doing.”
Pope has great admiration and respect for Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes.
“Rick Barnes is, if not the best, one of the best coaches in all of college basketball right now,” Pope said. “He’s one of the people that I really, really admire. I admire him because he puts together great teams every year. And I admire him because, everything I know about him, he’s a way better man than he is a basketball coach. When you’re one of the best basketball coaches that’s saying a lot about him.”
Friday night, it’s the Cats and the Vols meeting for the third time this season, with the winner advancing to Sunday’s Elite Eight round.
Rounds One and Two Recap
Kentucky advanced to the Sweet 16 for the 28th time in program history and first time since 2019 thanks to opening weekend wins over No. 14 seed Troy and No. 6 seed Illinois. The Wildcats raced past the Trojans in the opening round, 76-57, before upending Illinois, 84-75, in Milwaukee.
The Wildcats are shooting 47.2 percent in the tournament thus far including 38.3 percent from behind the 3-point arc. Kentucky has 41 assists to just 15 turnovers through the first two rounds, good for a 2.73:1 assist to turnover ratio. UK held Troy and Illinois to a combined 17-64 (.266) from 3-point range.
Koby Brea (18.0 ppg) and Otega Oweh (17.5 ppg) have been the leading scorers in the tournament for the Cats while Amari Williams leads the team with 23 rebounds, 10 assists and four blocks through two contests. Freshman Collin Chandler, who averaged just 2.4 points per game prior to the start of the NCAA Tournament, has averaged 7.5 ppg in the Big Dance while making 4-of-7 from deep.
Additional notes from rounds one and two
• This is just the second Kentucky team (joining 1998-99) to make at least eight 3-pointers in each of the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament
• Otega Oweh is the first Kentucky player to score at least 15 points in each of the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament since Shai-Gilgeous Alexander in 2018
• Koby Brea is the first Kentucky player to make at least three 3-pointers in each of the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament since John Wall in 2010
Oweh, Williams Garner NABC All-District Honors
Junior forward Otega Oweh and graduate center Amari Williams represent the Kentucky men’s basketball team on the National Association of Basketball Coaches 2024-25 Division I All-District Teams. Oweh was chosen as a first team selection by NABC-member coaches while Williams was picked to the second team.
Kentucky is in the Central District with Division I schools from Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska and Tennessee.
Oweh Named All-SEC by Coaches
Otega Oweh was named to the All-Southeastern Conference Second Team by the league’s coach, marking the first all-conference honors of his career.
Oweh leads the Wildcats by averaging 16.4 points per game. He began the season by scoring in double-figures in each of the team’s first 26 games, the only player in the SEC to reach that benchmark. He’s topped double-digits in 31 games overall and eclipsed the 20-point plateau on 13 occasions, including eight in league play.
Oweh is having a career season for the Wildcats, enjoying career bests in scoring average (16.4), rebounds per game (4.7), assists per game (1.8), steals per game (1.6) and blocks per game (0.5).
