{"id":586877,"date":"2026-02-06T20:02:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T20:02:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/586877\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T20:02:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T20:02:19","slug":"kentucky-basketball-vs-tennessee-volunteers-time-tv-channel-online-stream-predictions-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/586877\/","title":{"rendered":"Kentucky Basketball vs Tennessee Volunteers time, TV channel, online stream, predictions, more"},"content":{"rendered":"

Winners of seven of their last eight games, Kentucky Basketball<\/a> looks like they have found a rhythm after starting 0-2 in the SEC.<\/p>\n

Next up, the Tennessee Volunteers<\/a> and their gaudy orange come to Lexington on Saturday.<\/p>\n

One of the biggest games on this season\u2019s schedule and one of the few marquee conference games at home, Rupp Arena will certainly be packed and provide one of the best environments of the year.<\/p>\n

To add to the excitement, Kentucky is debuting new denim uniforms, which were unveiled on Friday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On the other side, Tennessee has found momentum of its own, riding a four-game win streak that includes road wins against Alabama and Georgia. The Volunteers will be looking to push it to five and avenge their earlier loss to the Wildcats in January, though that was when Kam Williams was still playing before his foot injury.<\/p>\n

This is also a big game in the SEC standings. Kentucky is tied for the most wins of any team at 7-3 in league play, while Tennessee is right behind at 6-3. Whoever wins this game will take a big step toward potentially winning the SEC regular-season championship, while the loser\u2019s hopes of winning the league crown will take a major blow.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take a look at the matchup.<\/p>\n

Physicality and Rebounding<\/p>\n

Under Rick Barnes, Tennessee has become one of the most physical teams in the country, even looking like they are playing a different sport at times.<\/p>\n

Prior to the first matchup, the coaching staff prepared the team with the most physical practices of the year, as described by Collin Chandler, who had noticeable cuts and bruises that weren\u2019t from the game. In the last week-plus, the team has been using boxing gloves in practice.<\/p>\n

Kentucky needs to be, and has shown the ability to match Tennessee\u2019s physicality, and in no area will that be more important than rebounding, where the Volunteers rank third nationally.<\/p>\n

In a physical rivalry matchup, don\u2019t be surprised if there is another altercation.<\/p>\n

As they have many times this season, in Kentucky\u2019s first matchup against Tennessee, the Wildcats got down double digits early. A big reason for that was turnovers, coughing up the ball five times in the first 10 minutes, compared to Tennessee\u2019s zero.<\/p>\n

Tennessee\u2019s defense is the second-best in the SEC, and they will be prepared to avenge their first loss. Kentucky needs to come out as focused as they have in the last two matchups and not dig themselves an early hole through turnovers.<\/p>\n

The biggest storyline surrounding this game, off the court, is the unveiling of Kentucky\u2019s newest version of the \u201cdenim\u201d uniforms that the 1996 championship team wore 30 years ago.<\/p>\n

Three decades later, the once-disliked uniforms have become highly anticipated. Kentucky guard Collin Chandler talked to the media earlier this week, giving his review of the new threads.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll give them a 10. Of course,\u201d said Chandler. \u201cI think the fan base will love it. It\u2019ll be a good time to reminisce.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rumors are that Mark Pope will bring his denim to his sideline look as well. Will we see Pope on with an all-denim, Canadian tuxedo look?<\/p>\n

G Ja\u2019Kobi Gillespie 6-1, 188 lbs<\/p>\n

F Felix Okpara 6-11, 242 lbs<\/p>\n

Time: 8:30 PM ET on February 7, 2026Location: Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center in Lexington, Kentucky.TV Channel: ESPNAnnouncers: Tom Hart and Dane Bradshaw will call the action.Online Stream: WatchESPN<\/a> and the ESPN app<\/a>.Radio: Tom Leach and Jack Givens will have the call on the UK Sports Radio Network<\/a>.Replay: WatchESPN<\/a> and the ESPN network (check local listings)Rosters: UK<\/a> | UT<\/a>Stats to Know: UK<\/a> | UT<\/a>KenPom: UK<\/a> | UT<\/a>Team Sheet: UK<\/a> | UT<\/a>\"\"<\/a>Odds: FanDuel Sportsbook<\/a> has Kentucky favored by 1.5 points with an over\/under of 143.5 points. As for the analytics, they have the game as a coin flip, with the majority giving Kentucky the advantage as the home team. EvanMiya<\/a> gives Kentucky the best chance, at 56.8%, followed by ESPN<\/a> (56%) and KenPom<\/a> (53%). BartTorvik<\/a> has the Wildcats as the underdog at 43%, while DRatings<\/a> gives them a 43.1% chance of winning.Predictions: EvanMiya<\/a> (74-72) has the Cats winning by two. BartTorvik<\/a> is picking the Vols to get a 73-71 win. KenPom<\/a> (73-72) and Haslametrics<\/a> (72-71) are taking Kentucky by a single point. DRatings<\/a> picks Tennessee to win 81-79. I expect another physical, low-scoring game, but give the Cats the advantage with one of the best Rupp Arena crowds of the season. I\u2019m going with a 78-73 victory, Kentucky!<\/p>\n

Send us your predictions in the comments section!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Winners of seven of their last eight games, Kentucky Basketball looks like they have found a rhythm after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":586878,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3723],"tags":[7,217,244,9780,231,772,1544],"class_list":{"0":"post-586877","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-college-basketball","10":"tag-kentucky-wildcats-basketball","11":"tag-kentucky-wildcats-mens-basketball-schedule","12":"tag-ncaa","13":"tag-ncaa-basketball","14":"tag-ncaab"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116025474832466597","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=586877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586877\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/586878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}