First Scouting Report: Can UK basketball turn the tables on Tennessee in Knoxville?

A look ahead to the Kentucky Wildcats’ next men’s basketball game:

The opponent

No. 15 Kentucky (22-8, 12-5 SEC) will face No. 4 Tennessee (24-6, 14-3 SEC) on Saturday, March 9, at Thompson-Boling Arena (seating capacity 21,678) at Food City Center in Knoxville.

The game will tip off at 4 p.m. EST and be telecast by CBS.

Behind 26 points from Dalton Knecht and 14 points and nine rebounds from Jonas Aidoo, the Volunteers won at South Carolina 66-59 Wednesday night.

With the victory, Tennessee clinched the SEC regular-season championship.

Series history

Kentucky leads the all-time series with Tennessee 160-78.

As UK head man, John Calipari is 18-13 vs. the Volunteers.

Tennessee coach Rick Barnes is 11-9 vs. Kentucky as UT head man and 12-11 overall.

Most recent meeting

Josiah-Jordan James and Zakai Zeigler each scored 26 points to lead then-No. 5 Tennessee to a 103-92 victory over then-No. 10 Kentucky at Rupp Arena on Feb. 3.

In defeat, Kentucky wasted an offensive explosion from freshman guard Rob Dillingham. The 6-2, 176-pound freshman from Hickory, North Carolina, rifled in a career-high 35 points vs. the Volunteers, making 14 of 20 shots and 6 of 8 treys.

Power rankings

In the Pomeroy Ratings, Kentucky is No. 18 and Tennessee No. 6.

The NCAA NET rankings have Kentucky No. 20, Tennessee No. 5.

Know your foe

1. Tennessee star Dalton Knecht is likely the favorite over Kentucky’s Antonio Reeves and Alabama’s Mark Sears for SEC Player of the Year honors. The 6-foot-6, 213-pound transfer from Northern Colorado entered play Wednesday averaging 20.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists.

The Thornton, Colorado, product entered Wednesday night’s game vs. South Carolina having scored 20 points or more in 11 of UT’s 16 SEC games. He had scored 30 points or more in five SEC games, including 39 in a 92-84 win over Auburn on Feb. 28.

Even as it allowed Tennessee to put 103 points on the Rupp Arena scoreboards, Kentucky actually managed to keep Knecht more or less in check in the first meeting between the Wildcats and the Volunteers, limiting the UT star to 16 points on 5-for-14 shooting, including 1 of 5 treys.

2. Junior big man Jonas Aidoo has been on a late-season surge for Tennessee. Going into Wednesday night’s action, the 6-11, 240-pound junior from Durham, North Carolina, had been averaging 15.3 points and 8.7 rebounds and making 63.4% of his field-goal tries (40-of-63) over UT’s six prior games.

For the season, Aidoo is averaging 12.1 points, 7.6 rebounds, 1.9 blocks and is shooting 54.3% on field-goal attempts.

3. Tennessee will enter Saturday’s regular-season finale with a 14-1 mark on its home court. UT’s sole loss in Knoxville this season was a 63-59 defeat to South Carolina on Jan. 30.

Kentucky is 4-2 this season versus teams ranked in the AP Top 25.

Since the start of the 2020-21 season, UK is 10-19 against ranked foes — but four of those 10 wins over Top 25 opponents have come versus Tennessee.

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