Kentucky @ Tennessee preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 16, 2019 ) Tennessee 82, Kentucky 78

Sixteenth-ranked Kentucky and Tennessee - the oldest SEC rivals - meet Saturday for the 229th time as the Wildcats seek their sixth victory in seven games and try to keep pace in the race for the conference title. Kentucky coach John Calipari spent part of Friday shooting down rumors that he will become Knicks coach while the Volunteers' Rick Barnes talked about the storied Wildcats.

“Obviously you are talking about one of the great college basketball programs in the country - a program that everybody wants to beat when you’re not a part of that program, just like they do any of the other schools that have had great success over many decades,'' Barnes told reporters. “Kentucky is one of them, and obviously just being two-and-a-half hours up the road is (part of it).” The Wildcats are tied for second in the SEC with No. 10 Auburn - one game behind 18th-ranked LSU - with the Volunteers among four teams tied for fifth. Tennessee snapped a three-game slide with a 69-68 victory at Alabama on Tuesday behind a career-high 22 points from John Fulkerson and 20 by Jordan Bowden. "Defensively, it might have been the best we've done all year from start to finish of staying locked in on what we needed to do against a very explosive offensive team," Barnes told the media.

TIME: 1 p.m. ET. TV: CBS

ABOUT KENTUCKY (17-5, 7-2 SEC): Nick Richards scored 25 of his career-high 27 points in an 80-72 victory over Mississippi State on Tuesday and has three double-doubles in his last four games. Richards averages 14.59 points - second on the team to Immanuel Quickley (14.61), who scored 21 on Tuesday and has totaled at least that many in three of his last four contests. Ashton Hagans averages 12.5 points and a conference-high seven assists but hasn't reached his helper average in the last three games and is averaging 7.3 points in the past four contests.

ABOUT TENNESSEE (13-9, 5-4): Bowden scores a team-high 13 points per game and has averaged 15.4 while reaching double figures in seven straight contests. Fulkerson, who also blocked three shots Tuesday, averages 12 points and a club-most 5.9 rebounds. Freshman guard Josiah-Jordan James (7.8 points, 5.7 rebounds) has missed the last two games with a groin injury and is considered day-to-day.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. The Wildcats have never won a national title without winning in Knoxville during that season and under Calipari have never reached the Final Four without a victory at Thompson Boling Arena.

2. The Volunteers lead the SEC in fewest points allowed at 61.5 per game.

3. Kentucky leads the series 155-73, but Tennessee has won the last two meetings, including 82-78 in the 2019 SEC Tournament semifinals, and four straight at home.

PREDICTION: Tennessee 62, Kentucky 61