Photo by Vicki Graff
Luckily for the Kentucky Wildcats, the 2018-2019 season doesn’t end with the Southeastern Conference Tournament. Kentucky faced the Tennessee Volunteers for the third time this season on Saturday afternoon in the tournament’s second semi-finals game.
With the first two games resulting in blowouts favoring the home team, the third matchup gifted the spectators exactly what they hoped for.
A 40-minute, back-and-forth affair highlighted the flow of Saturday’s action. SEC stars such as Admiral Schofield, Grant Williams, Jordan Bone, Keldon Johnson, PJ Washington and Tyler Herro all had their hand in the action.
Two fouls were handed to Washington early on in the first half and ultimately plagued the Kentucky offense, despite the Wildcats trailing 36-34 at the midway point.
While the first half provided many highlights, the second half was an even more spectacular display of basketball.
Washington contributed 14 second half points (16 for the game) and Ashton Hagans notched a double-double of 10 points and 12 assists with just three turnovers. Keldon Johnson scored a smooth 15 while making game-changing plays and Kentucky’s bench followed up Friday’s effort with another outing of collective contribution.
However, Kentucky’s eight-point lead with 2:58 ultimately evaporated right in front of their eyes. Tennessee scored on six-consecutive possessions to pull ahead, 78-76, on a three pointer by Lamonte Turner.
Coming down the floor, with just 29 seconds on the clock, head coach John Calipari elected to not call a timeout and let his team run a play on the fly.
Washington dribbled into traffic and missed a contested shot at the rim, along with a follow-up shot, as Tennessee finally corralled the rebound and hit their free throws to ice a final score of 82-78.
While the outcome will rightfully bring along many opinions regarding the officiating throughout the second half, Calipari’s questionable decision to not call timeout is suddenly a trend that did not pan out this time for the Wildcats.
In regards to the officiating, though, Tennessee did indeed take 23 free throws in the second half.
“I don’t know. I have to watch the tape,” Calipari said in response to why that was the case.
Making most of those free throws was Williams, who led the comeback win by scoring 11 points in the final five minutes of action.
“It’s not just physical toughness, it’s mental toughness,” Calipari said in regards to the play of Williams.
“Hats off to Tennessee,” Calipari said.
Washington, who led the team in scoring despite early foul trouble, said he addressed the team after the loss and told them to keep their heads up going into next week’s preparation for the start of the NCAA tournament.
The sophomore forward also said he wasn’t worried about this week’s outcome, as he’s fully-aware that the year’s most important games begin next week.
“We play next weekend,” Washington said.
No loss is a win, but Kentucky’s loss on Saturday could pass under the radar as a blessing in the end. After all, Kentucky has never won both the SEC tournament and the NCAA tournament. The Wildcats will most likely also slip to a No. 2 seed for the NCAA tournament, which could potentially draw Kentucky the side of the bracket headlined by potential No. 1 seed Virginia (likely Kentucky’s most favorable outcome).
Kentucky’s bench excelled in crunch time minutes, Ashton Hagans played his best game since January and Kentucky didn’t lose to an inferior team. Again, no loss is counted as a win but this specific fortune could be exactly what Kentucky needs moving forward.
