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Tennessee Basketball: Rick Barnes owns Rupp Arena

By Colton Pickard

LAWRENCE, KANSAS - JANUARY 25: Head coach Rick Barnes of the Tennessee Volunteers directs players against the Kansas Jayhawks at Allen Fieldhouse on January 25, 2020 in Lawrence, Kansas. (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images)
LAWRENCE, KANSAS - JANUARY 25: Head coach Rick Barnes of the Tennessee Volunteers directs players against the Kansas Jayhawks at Allen Fieldhouse on January 25, 2020 in Lawrence, Kansas. (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images) /
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Tennessee Basketball traveled to Lexington, Kentucky, last night to take on the Wildcats and shocked the world with an 81-73 win.

Before Tuesday, Tennessee Basketball had won five games at Rupp Arena since it opened its doors in 1976. After Tuesday, Tennessee left Lexington with its sixth win at Rupp Arena. It’s also Tennessee’s second win in Lexington in the last three years.

After going through most of its season losing games due to missing threes, the Vols did just enough from the outside to get the win. The Vols shot 8-for-18 (44.4%), and Yves Pons led the charge by shooting a perfect 3-for-3 from three.

The Vols were on the brink of being blown out in the first half and then came out and put up 50 points in the second half to stun the Wildcats. This was the first time in 10 years that Kentucky lost a game after having a double-digit lead at halftime.

Kentucky was 129-0 before blowing its lead against Tennessee, or maybe I should say before Tennessee stormed back and dominated in the second half. Kentucky didn’t lose the game last night, Tennessee won it. Now, Kentucky is 129-1 in the last decade while holding a double-digit lead at halftime.

John Fulkerson led the offensive charge throughout the night and finished the night with a career-high 27 points, the only player to finish the night with 20 or more points, and Josiah-Jordan James finished with 16 points and Pons finished with 15 points.

Although it seems like Tennessee’s season is all but over, Fulkerson embodied a never-give-up attitude last night, and his teammates followed.

"“We just kept fighting,” said Fulkerson, who led the Vols offensive charge in win against Kentucky. “I kept trying to look at the score at the top of the (scoreboard) and couldn’t find it, which I guess was a good thing.”"

Now, with two wins out of the last three appearances in Lexington, it looks like Rick Barnes is figuring John Calipari and the Wildcats out. This season might be a down year for the Vols and a rebuilding year, but Barnes and the Vols still had to get its win in Lexington.

Next. Tennessee Volunteers Baseball soars in polls. dark

With the season wrapping up this weekend, the Vols will play in its season finale at 11 am ET in Knoxville against Auburn.

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