Kentucky coach John Calipari has built a reputation as the king of recruiting one and dones and this year’s edition of the Wildcat had to replace its entire starting five from last year’s NCAA Elite Eight team, figured to continue that trend with the second-best recruiting class in the country last season.
Kentucky is starting four freshmen, but Calipari is discovering the potential of all one and done teams are not created equal. There are no lottery picks like Anthony Davis on this team, no John Wall, Boogie Cousins, Malik Monk or De’Aaron Fox. Cal’s Kiddie Corps may only have one NBA first round pick, 6-8 forward Kevin Knox, and rival SEC teams like Tennessee, Florida, Missouri and South Carolina are taking full advantage of their inexperience and inconsistency.
Sophomore guard Lamonte Turner came off the Tennessee bench to score 16 points, including a clutch three pointer with 26 seconds remaining, Admiral Schofield followed with a dunk off a turnover and 15th ranked Volunteers defeated No. 24 Kentucky (17-7), the youngest team in the country, 61-59, at Rupp Arena for its sixth consecutive victory.
This was Tennessee’s second victory over the Cats this season and the loss dropped Kentucky to 6-5 in the fluid SEC with upcoming road games at Texas A & M and first place Auburn.
The Volunteers (18-5, 8-3) ran down the shot clock in final minute before Turner knocked down the go-ahead field goal in a tight game that featured 17 lead changes and 13 ties.
“I knew it was good,’’ Turner said. “I gave up an and-1 and maybe a tip-in rebound, so when I hit it I was kind of like, ‘I had to do something. I was losing the game. It was more of an even feel when I hit the shot.’’
Kentucky rushed the ball up the court in hopes of answering, but their attempt was derailed by a steal by Jordan Bowden and a pass to Schofield for a thunderous breakaway dunk with 4 seconds left for a 61-58 lead.
Calipari said afterward he regretted not calling a timeout to set up the play. “I made mistakes at the end and cost them the game,’’ he said. “I don’t even like to do that in those situations, but this is a different team. They’re just too young to know what’s there and if they get in trouble…just call a timeout.’’
Kentucky had one last chance when freshman guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was fouled on a shot and made the first free throw with 1.3 seconds left. Gilgeous-Alexander intentionally missed the second, but Tennessee came up with the rebound as time ran out and the Vols came away with their first win in Rupp since 2006. “Scoring was hard to come by, and we just stayed with it defensively,’’ Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said. “We stayed in it and were able to get it at the end.’’
The Cats, which got 15 points apiece from guards Quade Green and Gilgeous Alexander, could never stop Tennessee defensively any time they grabbed the lead. It probably did not help that red shirt freshman forward Hamidou Diallo went scoreless, missing all three shots.
‘The biggest thing is that Tennessee beat Kentucky in Rupp Arena tonight,’’ Schofield said. “There was our goal coming in here, and we got it done.’’
