Written by Vinny Hardy

Kentucky (17-5, 7-2 SEC) will complete its run of four straight Saturdays on the road in Thompson-Boling Arena against Tennessee (13-9, 5-4 SEC). Knoxville has been a house of horrors for the Cats of late and historically dating back to the Stokely Athletic Center days. A win against the Vols would give Kentucky a 3-1 record in their quad of Saturday road games. They had won at Arkansas and Texas Tech prior to falling at Auburn last weekend.

Although the atmosphere in Knoxville may not be as raucous as it was in Lubbock, there’s always a low key ferocity when Kentucky is in the building. Vol fans love beating Big Blue. Having said that, Kentucky should be able to go in there and come out with a W for the first time since 2015. Tennessee had become formidable at home for everyone over the past couple of seasons but the armor invincibility at Thompson-Boling has gotten a few chinks in it this year.

Memphis went in there on December 14, without James Wiseman, and defeated the Vols 51-47 and snapped their 31-game home winning streak. The same Memphis team would go on the road to Tulsa a few weeks later and score 40 points . . . and lose 80-40.

Wisconsin walked in there and handed Tennessee a 68-48 drubbing on December 28. LSU whose been very impressive on the road until their trip to Vanderbilt the other day left Knoxville with at 78-64 victory. All of that has been a while ago and Tennessee is holding serve better at home over the last few weeks. Tennessee hasn’t been lighting it up offensively this season. If the Cats can avoid uncharacteristic events like allowing 56 points in a half and things of that nature they should be able to score enough to stay out of harm’s way despite defense being Tennessee’s strong suit. No doubt they’ll come out firing tomorrow.

That said, Kentucky is developing a nice road warrior mentality about themselves and have shown up ready to play in tough environments for the most part. They fell apart down the stretch at South Carolina and were still in it late at Auburn despite everything that didn’t go their way down there.

Nick Richards and E.J. Montgomery seem to have the right mindset. They just want to get a win in Knoxville, it’s reminiscent of the way The University of Jodie Meeks was feeling after he scored 54 to squash all of the Big Orange fervor 11 years ago. Speaking of EJ . . .

E.J. Montgomery Told On Himself

Remember when Cal was telling Tom Leach that Tyrese Maxey told on himself on his call in show? Maxey messed around and started finishing in first place in all of the drills ahead of Immanuel Quickley instead of his customary “in the middle of the pack”. Maxey told on himself in a good way and revealed what he is truly capable of doing. Similarly, E.J. told on himself in a good way against Mississippi State Tuesday night. He tallied 12 points, eight rebounds, three steals, one block and one assist. It was arguably his best game ever as a Wildcat. The stat sheet doesn’t even tell the whole story. One of those rebounds was really aggressive as he stepped out of his area to get it and wrestled it away from a Mississippi State player. He answered the bell and played tough defense on Reggie Perry and didn’t shy away from the contact. He even sustained a busted lip.

EJ Montgomery's confidence is thru the roof. pic.twitter.com/ilU8o82hoj — Not Scott Charlton (@Scott_Charlton2) February 5, 2020

Granted, the busted lip wasn’t exactly Tyler Ulis vs Louisville with blood streaming down the side of his face, but for E.J. it was a whole lot of progress from what we’ve become accustomed to seeing.

There is also a complimentary domino effect from his improved play Tuesday. It takes pressure off of Ashton Hagans. It takes pressure off of everyone but Hagans in particular in my opinion. If Hagans isn’t in double figures, as he has been for most of the season, Montgomery raising his scoring takes care of that. By finishing around the rim and in the paint he will more often than not produce an assist for someone else. Hagans had six assists Tuesday night. That’s the first time he has had an assist to turnover ratio of 3:1 since the Georgia game on Jan. 21.

As was the case with Nick Richards at the beginning of the season, Montgomery has to now show that he can play this way consistently. That’s the challenge, being able to stack one good game on top of the other and be a force every time out. There’s no better place to start stacking than Thompson-Boling Arena.

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