Kentucky is coming off of back-to-back losses, one against Alabama just two Saturday’s ago and one against Vanderbilt this past Saturday in Nashville. Kentucky is now sitting at 14-5 on the season and 3-3 in the Southeastern Conference ahead of tonight’s matchup. The Wildcats will have an uphill battle tonight to get back into the win column, facing the Volunteers in Knoxville.

On Monday night, the SEC’s Initial Injury Report came out and Kentucky’s Andrew Carr is again tabbed as ‘Questionable’ with it being a game time decision. UPDATE as of 5:15 PM: Andrew Carr has been removed off of the SEC Initial Injury Report, making him fully available for tonight’s game. There was somewhat of a surprise when Kentucky’s starting point guard, Lamont Butler, was ruled ‘Out’ against #8 Tennessee. As we’ve seen for the majority of the season, Kerr Kriisa is out as well, but we expected that one.

This will make an already daunting task that much harder tonight for Mark Pope’s squad. Kentucky is struggling with depth issues and now it will be up to some of the Kentucky freshmen to step up in a big time SEC road environment. Both Travis Perry and Trent Noah saw the floor this past Saturday against Vanderbilt, and Noah looked a lot more comfortable in his role, whereas Perry struggled in his limited minutes.

The question a lot of the Big Blue Nation might have regarding this game is how will head coach Mark Pope adjust the starting lineup in Butler’s absence? Will Travis Perry get his first start of his young collegiate career, or will Jaxson Robinson takeover the point guard role like he did in the second half of the Gonzaga game?

For Kentucky to have any kind of a chance to win tonight on the road in Knoxville the Wildcats are going to have to have a lot go their way. They will need their typical role players to step up in a big way. Those include Otega Oweh, Jaxson Robinson, Amari Williams, and Brandon Garrison. Ansley Almonor also had a good showing this past Saturday and his name will likely be called on a lot tonight, especially if Andrew Carr is unable to go.

I want to go with my heart and predict a Kentucky victory tonight but there is too many things going against Kentucky at the moment. Hopefully both Butler and Carr can continue to get healthy and have them return towards the end of SEC play. Now the spread for tonight’s game is hovering around ten points in favor of the Vols. I think this could get very ugly for Kentucky tonight and if they can manage to keep it that close that would be a moral victory.

I think Tennessee wins easily with a score of 78-67. Some other predictions from Cats Coverage staff include:

Braden Nevius: 79-71, Tennessee. MVP – Jaxson Robinson

Ethan Grantz: 81-69, Tennessee. MVP – Otega Oweh

Tim Smith: 88-58, Tennessee. MVP – Otega Oweh

Tres Terrell: 71-63, Tennessee. MVP – Jaxson Robinson

Jacob Childers: 79-64, Tennessee. MVP – Jaxson Robinson

Nate Unthank: 60-53, Tennessee. MVP – Travis Perry

Tanin Smith: 77-61, Tennessee. MVP – Ansley Almonor

Jack Wagner: 70-60, Tennessee. MVP – Otega Oweh

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