Seven things you need to know from Kentucky’s crucial 66-54 win over No. 10 Tennessee

Seven things you need to know from Kentucky’s 66-54 win over No. 10 Tennessee at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center in downtown Lexington:

1. Cats take a big step toward making NCAA tourney. The college hoops computer rankings love Tennessee. The Volunteers came to Rupp Arena ranked No. 3 in the NCAA NET rankings, No. 4 in the Pomeroy ratings and No. 3 in the Sagarin ratings.

The fact that Kentucky now has a season sweep over the Volunteers, having also beaten the Rocky Toppers 63-56 in Knoxville on Jan. 14, is going to compensate for a lot of other deficiencies in UK’s NCAA Tournament profile.

After entering the week with one Quad 1 victory all season, Kentucky now stands 4-7 in Quad 1 games (a previous victory over Texas A&M is now considered a Quad 1 win as the Aggies surge).

Even better, as the NET rankings stood entering play Saturday, UK still has three more Quad 1-victory chances left on its schedule — Wednesday at No. 51 Florida; Saturday vs. No. 27 Auburn; and in the regular-season finale at No. 21 Arkansas. (The Cats’ other remaining game, vs. No. 91 Vanderbilt, would be a Quad 3 win or loss.)

After a horrid road loss at Georgia last Saturday left Kentucky on the outside of many NCAA Tournament bracket projections, the best week to date of the UK season — featuring a road win at surging Mississippi State and a second victory over highly ranked Tennessee — went a long way toward ensuring the Wildcats will participate in March Madness.

2. Cason Wallace’s bounce-back game. The Kentucky freshman point guard entered Saturday’s game mired in a deep three-point shooting slump. Wallace was 1-of-15 from behind the arc over UK’s three previous games, and 0-of-12 in the Cats’ two most recent contests.

In the road contests at Georgia (a loss) and Mississippi State (a win), Wallace found it difficult making shots from anywhere. The 6-foot-4, 193-pound Dallas product was 3-of-21 shooting in those two games.

Wallace rebounded in a big way Saturday vs. Tennessee.

The UK guard still missed all three of his trey attempts vs. UT, but otherwise was stellar against the Volunteers’ rugged defense.

With Kentucky again playing without injured guards Sahvir Wheeler (ankle) and CJ Fredrick (ribs), Wallace played 39 minutes and used them well. Wallace had 16 points, six rebounds, six assists and a steal. He made six of 14 shots and four of five free throws.

3. Another UK frosh coming up big. Kentucky freshman small forward Chris Livingston capped the best week of his UK career to date with his first college double-double vs. Tennessee. The 6-6, 220-pound product of Akron, Ohio, finished with 12 points, a team-high 10 rebounds and a blocked shot.

In Wednesday’s road win at Mississippi State, Livingston went for 13 points, five rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block.

Livingston appears to be “coming on” at just the right time.

4. An orange-colored sweep. The Wildcats’ two-game, regular-season sweep of Tennessee is the first for a UK men’s basketball team since the 2011-12 Cats of Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Co. did the deed.

Of course, the 2011-12 Wildcats went on to win UK’s eighth men’s hoops NCAA championship.

Kentucky backers who believe in omens should note that no Wildcats men’s hoops team which has won an NCAA title has ever lost to Tennessee (though there are UK teams that didn’t lose to UT but also didn’t win it all).

5. The one ranked team that UK consistently beats. The victory over the No. 10 Volunteers left Kentucky 2-4 this season against foes rated in the AP Top 25.

Since the start of the 2020-21 season, Kentucky is now 6-15 vs. Top 25-rated foes. Four of those six wins over ranked opponents have come over Tennessee.

Prior to Saturday’s outcome, a UK team that would finish its season 9-16 in 2020-21 upset then-No. 19 Tennessee 70-55 in Knoxville. Last season, No. 18 Kentucky whacked No. 22 Tennessee 107-79 in Rupp Arena. Earlier this year, UK shocked then-No. 5 UT 63-56 at Thompson-Boling Arena.

6. Oscar watch. Oscar Tshiebwe finished Saturday’s game with 16 points and seven rebounds. For his two-season Kentucky career, Tshiebwe now has 985 points and 840 rebounds.

Tshiebwe moved past Rick Robey (838 career boards) for ninth place on the all-time UK rebounding list. Next up on that chart is Sam Bowie, eighth with 843 rebounds.

7. Calipari ties Ray Mears. It seems appropriate, from the UK perspective, that John Calipari tied iconic former UT head man Mears for fifth place on the all-time SEC coaching wins list with a victory over Tennessee.

Calipari is now 182-59 in SEC contests since becoming Kentucky head man in 2009-10. That ties Mears, who went 182-76 from 1963 through 1977 while coaching the Volunteers.

The top four coaches in all-time SEC victories are: 1. Adolph Rupp 397; 2. Dale Brown 238; 3. Billy Donovan 200; 4. C.M. Newton 195.

Kentucky pops No. 10 Tennessee early, holds off the Vols for another statement victory

Box score from Kentucky basketball’s 66-54 win over 10th-ranked Tennessee

First Scouting Report: UK goes for another Quad 1 win and a season sweep of Florida