After watching their 19-game winning streak come to an end Saturday night, Tennessee will look to get back on track with a home matchup against the lowly Vanderbilt Commodores.
Most college hoops fans were expecting a clash of titans in Lexington on Saturday, but they got instead was a good old fashioned rout. Kentucky defended its home floor in emphatic fashion, routing then-no. 1 Tennessee 86-69 to bounce back from their controversial loss to LSU.
The Volunteers had a very bad night defensively, allowing Kentucky to shoot 54.7 percent from the floor, and found themselves behind from pretty much the opening tip. P.J. Washington led the Wildcats with 23 points and was instrumental in a 14-0 run to start the second half, allowing Kentucky to open a 20 point lead they would never relinquish.
Tennessee will look to get back on track against the Commodores, which has been a disaster in SEC play. Vanderbilt is 0-12 in conference play, ruining a decent 9-4 non-conference slate that featured a road win at Arizona State.
The latest loss came last Saturday, when Vanderbilt lost to Auburn 64-53 at home, marking Auburn’s first win at Memorial Gym since 2000. Following up that loss with a trip to a ticked off Volunteers squad could get very ugly for Vanderbilt.
How to watch Vanderbilt vs. Tennessee
- Date: Tuesday, Feb. 19
- Start Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
- Location: Knoxville, TN
- Venue: Thompson-Boling Arena
- TV: ESPN
- Live Stream: WatchESPN
This is the second matchup of the year between these two squads. Tennessee already has a win over the Commodores under their belts, defeating Vanderbilt 88-83 at Memorial Gym on Jan. 23.
That game required overtime, but Vanderbilt has lost seven more games in a row since then. The odds that this game will stay close are pretty slim, especially with Tennessee looking to make people forget about the Kentucky loss as soon as possible.