Ansley Almonor and Otega Oweh each scored 13 points as No. 15 Kentucky topped fifth-ranked Tennessee 75-64 on Tuesday night at Rupp Arena.
Koby Brea, starting in place of the injured Jaxson Robinson, scored 11 points and Trent Noah came off the bench to score 11 as well.
Kentucky (17-7, 6-5 Southeastern Conference) made 12 of 24 from beyond the arc, while the Vols made just 3 of 18 (16.7 percent) of their long-distance shots.
Tennessee (20-5, 7-5) won the opening tap but on the first possession, Lamont Butler picked the pocket of Zakai Ziegler and raced to the other end for a layup that put the Cats ahead. An Oweh bucket on the next possession made it 4-0. A pair of free throws from Ansley Almonor extended the UK lead to 6-0 early. However, Tennessee scored the next five points to get within one.
A Koby Brea bucket made it 8-5 before Ziegler scored in the lane to cut the UK lead to one, 8-7. Ziegler would hit a pair of free throws and the Vols grabbed their first lead, 9-8. However, a Brea three gave UK the lead back, 11-9. A three from Trent Noah extended the advantage to 14-9.
The Vols scored four straight to get within one before a Brandon Garrison dunk and a Butler layup stretched the lead to 18-13. However, UT scored four in a row to get within one again, 18-17.
An Oweh three made it 21-17, but the Vols scored the next four to tie the game at 21 apiece. A Travis Perry three made it 24-21 Cats. After Ziegler got the Vols within one, Noah hit another three and Kentucky led 27-23 with 3:51 left in the half. After a UT free throw, Noah connected from three again and the Cats led 30-24. A Garrison three extended the lead to 33-24 and forced a UT timeout.
A pair of Tennessee free throws capped the first-half scoring and UK took a 33-26 lead into the break. Noah led all scorers with nine points in the first 20 minutes.
Amari Williams got the scoring started in the second half with a tough post move. However, the Vols responded with five straight to make it 35-31. Almonor then connected on a three and the Cats led 38-31. And when Williams scored on a jump hook, UK took a 40-31 lead.
Again, Tennessee would respond with back-to-back baskets that made it 40-35. But Almonor hit a three from the top of the key and UK grabbed a 43-35 advantage. After the Vols scored three straight, Almonor scored on a tip-in and UK led 45-38.
The teams would trade threes, with Perry hitting from distance for the Cats, as UK took a 48-41 lead. However, UT responded with a 6-2 run to cut the UK lead to 50-47.
The teams traded baskets to make it 52-49 before a Butler layup gave UK a 54-49 lead. However, UT answered with a three and the advantage was down to two, 54-52. And when the Vols hit two free throws with 8:20 left, the game was tied at 54-54.
Oweh made one of two at the line to give UK a narrow 55-54 lead, but the Vols scored the four points to lead 58-55. That’s when Almonor drove to the bucket, made an off-balanced shot and was fouled. He made the subsequent free throw to tie the game at 58 apiece.
Ziegler scored at the rim to give UT at 60-58 lead before Brea drilled a deep three to give the Cats a 61-60 advantage with just more than four minutes to play. That was the start of a 7-0 run that made it 65-60 Cats with 2:41 to play. After a UT bucket, Brea hit another three, and Oweh scored off a lob, giving Kentucky a 70-62 advantage with 1:20 remaining.
Tennessee would hit a pair of free throws, but Oweh answered with a pair of his own to essentially put the game away.
Kentucky returns to action on Saturday, visiting Texas in Austin. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. and the game can be seen on ESPN.