Beginning a new era, No. 12 Kentucky men’s basketball Head Coach Mark Pope got his first taste of the border state rivalry with Rick Barnes’ No. 8 Volunteers.

In a game that featured two top-15 teams fresh off devastating inter-league losses desperate for a vindicating win, the Wildcats went without a field goal for five and a half minutes to close regulation.

During that five-minute stint, Tennessee shot 1-12 from three to top off a horrendous shooting night as the Vols shot 35% from the field.

The Wildcats didn’t blow out their rival despite shooting 50% as a squad; rather, they scraped away with a gritty five-point victory in the thick of an intense game filled with bad blood.

Pope was visibly animated, jumping, flailing his arms and voicing frustration at the referees for a hotly disagreed call, an atypical sight for the normally calm and sagacious figure he presents himself to be.

Tennessee made only 11 of its 45 attempts from the 3-point line, which was the second-highest number of attempts in school history. Regardless, the Volunteers scored 73 points, which trumped their season average against SEC opponents of 65.8 points across seven games.

The Wildcats were without their true point guards Lamont Butler and Kerr Kriisa and, additionally, forward Andrew Carr, who was listed as questionable prior to tipoff,  played only two minutes.

Pope’s team was shorthanded, which led to forward Ansley Almonor and guard Koby Brea making their second starts of the season.

The stretch-four Almonor delivered with 12 points on 4-7 shooting from beyond the arc while dishing out three assists.

“Ansley has been huge for us,” Kentucky guard Jaxson Robinson said. “He’s been knocking down shots, playing great defense, and that’s exactly what we need out of him… Ansley is going to win us a couple of games this year, and I think one of those games was today.”

Brea, known for his offensive prowess, excelled as the primary assignment on Tennessee’s leader and fifth-year senior Zakai Zeigler. Kentucky held Zeigler to an 0-5 start to begin the game, in large part due Brea’s efforts blocking a shot and snagging a steal.

In the end, Brea would best Zeigler as the undersized Vols guard finished with an inefficient 13 points while shooting 1-11 from deep.

Moreover, Brea did what he does best, and that’s make shots. The Butler fill-in shot a perfect 5-5 from the field, three of those being 3-pointers, leading Kentucky with a team-best 18 points.

“Great shooters shoot and make shots,” Pope said. “(Koby’s) arguably the best shooter in all of basketball in a lot of different aspects. My gosh, he made hard shots tonight.”

Even freshman Trent Noah, who has seldomly seen the court this season, had a productive five points off the bench on 2-2 shooting while only playing nine minutes.

“Trent has been great in back-to-back games, right now,” Pope said. “Trent is not afraid of the moment.”

With that in mind, one may ask: How did Tennessee manage to keep the game close?

The Volunteers have one of the best defenses in the country. This has become a staple of the Barnes’ era in Knoxville.

Tennessee entered the game with the third-best scoring defense in the nation. The Volunteers forced more than a dozen turnovers, beating Kentucky in the turnover margin 13-5. Those mishaps translated into 15 points off turnovers for Tennessee.

Additionally, the Volunteers out-hustled their northern adversaries in rebounds. Tennessee collected 18 offensive rebounds and produced 20 second-chance points. Both of those stats were dominated by the home team.

Remarkably, the Vols kept themselves in the game during their 3-point missing spree by collecting seven offensive boards in the final three minutes of the game.

“They missed some for us, they had, like, 62 threes in the last 17 seconds of the game, it felt like because we couldn’t grab a rebound,” Pope said. “We were fortunate that some of those didn’t go in, for sure… you got to have good fortune in this game for sure.”

However, in addition to Brea, Robinson deserves plenty of credit for limiting Tennessee’s go-to scorer, Chaz Lanier, to only 13 points, in addition to posting 17 points of his own.

“Jax is a freaking gamer, man,” Pope said. “He is just very special.”

Prior to the game, Lanier led the Volunteers with 18 points per game. Against Kentucky’s backcourt, Lanier shot a sour 5-18 from the field.

This bounce-back win for the Wildcats is massive considering their next opponent is Arkansas, especially with their injuries and consecutive losses. The SEC has established itself as the gauntlet of men’s college basketball in recent years.  Put another way, every victory in the SEC is a meaningful one.

“Onto the next. Regardless if it was a win or loss, like tonight, we’re just going to go over it tomorrow and get ready for the next,” Kentucky center Amari Williams said. “We all have faith in each other.”

The Wildcats return to action on Saturday, Feb. 1, in a highly-anticipated matchup with the John Calipari-led Arkansas Razorbacks. Tipoff is set for 9 p.m. ET, and the game will be aired live on ESPN.