Strange: Kentucky leaves Vols feeling blue

What was left of the crowd, that is.

What was left of it was wearing blue.

Unlike on so many trips south to Knoxville over the years, the Kentucky faithful had nothing to fret as the last possessions played out.

In an 84-62 loss, Tennessee led only twice, on back-to-back Chris Lofton treys midway through the first half. Total time elapsed for Kentucky trailing on the scoreboard: 26 seconds.

Come the second half, the Wildcats' lead never shrank to fewer than six points. When it did, Kentucky put the hammer down with a 15-3 run.

"Out of sync" was coach Buzz Peterson's analysis of Tennessee's offense.

"We'd been pretty good (in recent games) getting the ball inside out,'' he elaborated. "Tonight we were just running around, pretty much doing a lot of free-lancing.''

Out of sync could also apply to the Vols' defense. The Wildcats drove to the basket as if they were on I-75.

Out of position described the Vols when it came to boxing out on the boards. The Wildcats had almost as many offensive rebounds (21) as UT did total (29).

On a night when they needed their "A'' game, the Vols brought their "C" game.

"Every huddle,'' said Peterson, "I kept trying to find somebody to spark us.''

To no avail. Tennessee had no mojo working.

There was no one-legged Jenis Grindstaff to spark a second-half rally with four consecutive buckets. That happened in 2002.

There was no Allan Houston and Corey Allen conspiring on a four-point play with 1.5 seconds to play. That happened in 1993.

There was no Greg Bell to bedevil the Cats with 29 points and two clutch free throws to ice a 102-100 win. That happened in 1990 - two years after Bell hit the winning shot in 72-70 upset.

Even Ray Mears in the flesh perched not 10 feet from the Kentucky bench failed to conjure up any kryptonite-like aura to bring the Wildcats to their knees.

The Wildcats, in fact, were quite robust, even though their resident tough man, Chuck Hayes, exited with a broken nose late in the first half.

That leveled the playing field since the Vols were without center Brandon Crump, who was on crutches due to a sprained ankle.

The Hayes-Crump duel, which might have otherwise been pivotal, ended up an irrelevant 2-0 Hayes.

At least Crump, in street clothes, didn't charge the Kentucky bench to rev up a brouhaha. We won't name names, but that happened in 2001.

For the first time in the past four years, the verdict was in long before the final possession. Peterson discounted the theory that the Vols ran out of gas in the second half, as was plainly the case in their previous outing Saturday at Louisville.

Maybe, maybe not. But a comparison of the box scores reveals an eerie consistency to the Vols.

Louisville pulled away to win, 85-62. Kentucky pulled away to win 84-62.

Louisville won the boards, 34-28. Kentucky won the boards, 41-29. The Vols had 18 turnovers at Louisville, 17 against Kentucky.

Chris Lofton, C.J. Watson and Major Wingate combined for 42 points at Louisville. The same trio produced 43 points against Kentucky.

Scooter McFadgon, UT's leading scorer, struggled both games, shooting 2-of-7 at Louisville, 2-of-9 against Kentucky.

That the Vols don't measure up (minus Crump) within 20 points of the Cards or Cats, that they ran out of gas at Louisville, that they couldn't find a spark against Kentucky is disheartening.

For the past three years under Peterson the Vols have given both of those elite programs all they wanted, 40 minutes worth, even if they have only one win to show for it.

This year, the fans applauding in the 40th minute weren't wearing orange. The fans wearing orange had left the building.

Mike Strange may be reached at 865-342-6276 or strange2@knews.com.