UK's Road to the Final Four Is Over; Cats Drop 78-65 to Tennessee in Sweet Sixteen

Lamont Butler, Koby Brea and Andrew Carr join UK coach Mark Pope at the postgame news conference following Kentucky's 78-65 loss to Tennessee in NCAA Sweet Sixteen Friday night in Indianapolis. (Photo by Jamie H. Vaught)

By Jamie H. Vaught

KySportsStyle.com Magazine

INDIANAPOLIS -- Kentucky's incredible road to the NCAA Final Four has ended Friday night as the No. 3 seed Wildcats drop 78-65 to No. 2 seed Tennessee in a Sweet Sixteen showdown at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Under the direction of first-year coach Mark Pope, the Wildcats finished their memorable campaign with a 24-12 mark, including eight wins over AP Top 15 opponents. Kentucky managed to find success even with 12 new scholarship players on the roster.

"It's hard to talk about basketball right now," said Pope in the postgame press conference. "Congratulations to Tennessee. They played really hard and really well. I have a ton of respect for Coach (Rick) Barnes. Mostly, we're just sad that this is over."

Tennessee, which improved to 30-7, will face No. 1 seed Houston on Sunday.

Kentucky's Otega Oweh talks with the news media in the team's dressing room Friday night. (Photo by Jamie H. Vaught)

A big factor in the outcome was the second-chance points as UT had 19 points compared to Kentucky's five.

UK's Lamont Butler had team-highs 18 points and six rebounds along with three assists. Amari Williams scored 14 points, his 21st double-figure game of the season, while Otega Oweh added 13 points, his 33rd double-double of the season.

Kentucky, which gunned in six three-pointers, established a school record for most three-pointers in a season with 341. The 1992-93 team, coached by Rick Pitino, held the record with 340 three-pointers.

The Volunteers had three players in double figures with Zakai Zeigler hitting 18 points, Chaz Lanier 17 and Jordan Gainey 16. Zeigler also had 10 assists.

Two of the nation's top point guards -- Butler and Zeigler -- had outstanding performances.

"He's one of the best point guards in the country," Butler said of Zeigler. "Tonight, he played well, as he's been doing all year. Congrats to him and the team to going on further in the tournament, but it's a great matchup. I felt like I held my own. And to go out there and compete, at the end of the day, that's all I could ask for."

Said Zeigler, "We really wanted to set the tone and show them who we were. The first two times we played them at their place and our place (with UK winning both times). We knew regardless of what happened, we were going to go out and play Tennessee basketball on the offensive and defensive end, and I feel like we did that great tonight."

UK players praised Pope's first-year performance as the Wildcat boss.

"I would say it's incredible, man," said Butler of his coach. "We came in, nobody not knowing each other, really no coaching staff, and we built something that was really great, really inspiring for other people. To even play at Kentucky is a dream come true for myself and a lot of guys up here. We're grateful for him to bring us here and to bring us something that we may not have experienced before this year and really, just really grateful, honestly."

"I think the University of Kentucky is in great hands," said Koby Brea. "Just to see what he's done this year, his first year. And not only that, but he's a life-changer to just our group. I feel like he's helped us so much off the court and on the court, and it's going to be really special to see what he continues to do for this team and for this university."

Commented Andrew Carr, "I agree with what those guys said. A lot of us, even just one year ago, never thought we would be at Kentucky. For Coach Pope to believe in everybody who is on the team, believe in myself is really special for all of us and super proud of the team and everybody this system. We were able to make history at the mecca of college basketball.

"So for us to be able to come in here in Coach Pope's first year and be able to do that has been nothing short of amazing, and I'm super excited to see for the next 10, 15 years what kind of dominant run Coach Pope can start."

As the press conference was winding down, Butler added, "Can I say something? I think it's really cool we were able to set the culture for Pope's first year. And people have to come in and the bar going to be set high for the next people who come under Pope. It's gonna be fun to watch for sure."

Then Carr said, "If you're in the transfer portal and looking for a place to go, go to Kentucky. I'll tell you that much. Go to Kentucky."

Jamie H. Vaught, a longtime sports columnist in Kentucky, is the author of six books about UK basketball, including recently-published “Forever Crazy About The Cats: An Improbable Journey of a Kentucky Sportswriter Overcoming Adversity.” Now a retired college professor who taught at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College in Middlesboro., he is the editor and founder of KySportsStyle.com Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter @KySportsStyle or reach him via email at KySportsStyle@gmail.com.

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