Short-handed Kentucky basketball puts depth on display in SEC road win against Tennessee

Yahoo

29-01-2025

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tuesday was Game No. 20 of the season for Kentucky basketball.
In its previous 19 contests since the 2024-25 campaign commenced, UK never sported a starting five featuring Ansley Almonor and Koby Brea.
Until Tuesday, that is.
Forced into the lineup because of injuries to usual starters Lamont Butler and Andrew Carr, Almonor and Brea delivered in a top-15 matchup versus bitter rival Tennessee.
The newfound starters combined for 30 points as the Wildcats snapped a two-game losing streak, topping the Volunteers, 78-73, at Thompson-Boling Arena.
"Just that we can stick together," UK center Amari Williams replied when asked for his takeaway from a win with a short-handed team. "Doesn't matter who's on the floor, we're always gonna play hard for each other. I feel like that just makes us a team."
Kentucky entered Tuesday ranked No. 12 in both the USA TODAY Coaches and the Associated Press Top 25 polls; Tennessee was No. 8 in each of those rankings.
But thanks to Almonor and Brea, UK (15-5, 4-3 SEC) handed UT its first home loss of the season after starting 11-0. Coincidentally, the Vols' (17-4, 4-4) last home defeat prior to Tuesday also came at the hands of the Wildcats: Kentucky earned a hard-fought, 85-81 victory in the regular-season finale for both teams during the 2023-24 campaign.
This game didn't bear much resemblance to that matchup. That day, stars shined bright — Reed Sheppard and Antonio Reeves had 27 points apiece for Kentucky, while Dalton Knecht poured in 40 for Tennessee — on Rocky Top.
Ten months later, unsung heroes Almonor and Brea took center stage.
It's not as if either isn't accustomed to shouldering responsibility, of course.
Brea notched only 10 starts for Dayton last season — but he played starter minutes. He averaged 29.1 minutes a night for the Flyers while scorching the nets from distance, leading the nation in 3-point percentage (49.8 on 100-of-201 shooting). That largely had been Brea's role this season, too. He began Tuesday sitting second nationally — and in the SEC — in 3-point accuracy at 46.4, trailing only Missouri's Caleb Grill.
Brea showcased that skill again Tuesday, sinking all three triples he attempted (part of a 5-for-5 shooting effort from the field in which he finished with a team-high 18 points).
"Man, he makes hard shots, doesn't he?" Kentucky coach Mark Pope said. "Whoo. … Great shooters shoot and make shots. I think he's arguably the best shooter in all of basketball."
That's not all: He also dished out three assists, matching his season high.
"The way he was able to get downhill, kick it out — just the playmaking he did tonight was something that we knew he could do," Williams said. "He just had to go out there and prove it. So you love it."
That's not all, Part II.
"I thought he really gave us some life on the defensive end. ... When you're watching the game, you're trying to see if the energy in the gym is right," Pope said. "He was really special, making heroic shots. But also the energy that he brought to the game, I thought, was contagious."
Almonor was far more accustomed to starting at Fairleigh Dickinson than Brea was at Dayton. (Almonor combined to start 65 games the past two seasons for FDU.) But Almonor, a 6-foot-7, 244-pound forward, had gamely assimilated to his off-the-bench role for the Wildcats. For the second time in as many games, however, he proved he can answer the bell when called upon. Starting versus Vandy, Almonor scored 12 points, on 4-of-5 aim on 3s. He scored 12 more points in Tuesday's win. Every one of his points were courtesy of long-range buckets, as he went 4 of 7 beyond the 3-point arc.
"It's Ansley Almonor that makes a team special," Pope said.
Then he explained.
Nearly every team in the country, Pope said, has a "headline headline guy." The player everyone knows. The superstar. The straw that stirs the drink.
Not every team has an Ansley Almonor.
"Especially a senior that's like, 'I'll do whatever the team needs, man. Like, if you play me tonight? Great, then I'm going to go play great. And if you don't play me, I'm going to just love these guys,'" Pope said. "I'm telling you: Those are the guys that go on to do insanely amazing things in life. He's really special."
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Almonor and Brea couldn't have picked more fortuitous timing for their performances.
When Butler will be cleared to return from his shoulder injury is uncertain. Carr, who has battled a back injury for weeks, played just two minutes Tuesday; the only statistic he recorded was a turnover.
Almonor and Brea's outings demonstrated the depth UK possesses — and that it should be just fine while Butler and Carr continue to recover. Particularly in the short term. And perhaps the long term, too, should those injuries linger.
The gutsy win was the latest testament to a belief Pope held well before the season started.
"We were like, 'We will have resilience, because these guys are loving each other enough that we're a really good team,'" Pope said. "It's also challenging, right? But we do feel like we can withstand punches — like, we can withstand rough stretches.
"And we can get better from them."
Reach Kentucky men's basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at [e-mail] and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.
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This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky basketball: Mark Pope's Cats rally in second half vs Vols