Which UK men's basketball players are out against Tennessee? The latest SEC injury news.

Kentucky basketball preparing for road game at Tennessee

The latest installment of the men’s basketball rivalry series between Kentucky and Tennessee will have plenty on the line for both programs on Tuesday night in Knoxville.

The No. 8-ranked Volunteers (17-3 overall and 4-3 in SEC games) have only lost in conference play this season, including their most recent game, a 53-51 defeat at No.

1 Auburn on Saturday night. In comparison, No. 12-ranked Kentucky (14-5, 3-3) is on its first two-game losing streak of the Mark Pope era, having lost at home to No. 4 Alabama on Jan. 18 and at now-ranked Vanderbilt on Saturday afte

No. 8 Tennessee looks to pick up steam vs. No. 12 Kentucky

Which UK men's basketball players are out against Tennessee? The latest SEC injury news.

Tennessee and Kentucky have combined to lose eight games this season and six of them have come in the past three weeks.

One team is going to experience a fourth loss during that span on Tuesday night when the No. 8 Volunteers battle the No. 12 Wildcats in Southeastern Conference action at Knoxville, Tenn.

Tennessee (17-3, 4-3 SEC) won its first 14 games and was the last team in the nation to lose a contest. The Volunteers have since gone 3-3 and are coming off Saturday’s 53-51 road loss against top-ranked Auburn.

Kentucky (14-5, 3-3) won 12 of its first 14 games before losing three of its last five. That includes back-to-back setbacks against No. 4 Alabama and at Vanderbilt in the last two games. Vanderbilt entered this week’s poll at No. 24.

The losses dropped the Wildcats into 10th place in the 16-team SEC.

Jordan Gainey, Igor Milicic Jr. updates on Tennessee vs Auburn SEC injury report

Wildcats coach Mark Pope wasn’t happy about his team’s ball security during Saturday’s 74-69 loss to Vanderbilt.

Kentucky committed 17 turnovers compared to just five for the Commodores.

“We just kept giving them the ball,” Pope said afterward. “(We’re) one of the top ball protection teams in the country. There’s some spaces in the game where you feel like you have some confidence where you’ve kind of proven yourselves. But when you start leaking there the game gets super hard.”

The Wildcats played without forward Andrew Carr (back) and could be without him again on Tuesday. Carr ranks fourth on the club in scoring (10.9 points per game) and second in rebounding (5.6).

Carr didn’t even step on the practice floor between a 102-97 loss to the Crimson Tide on Jan. 18 and the game against the Commodores.

Here's who is out for Kentucky at Tennessee basketball on the SEC injury report

“He wants to play so bad and we were just kind of seeing a decline in his performance because there’s just so much he can’t do with his back,” Carr said. “Every game, it’s kind of like he just gets beat up so bad it’s back to square one, where it’s hard for him to walk essentially.”

Leading scorer Otega Oweh (15.9) has scored 21 points in back-to-back games. He has scored that total — which is his season high — five times in 2024-25.

Tennessee is part of a five-way tie for fifth through ninth place in the SEC after shooting just 31.5 percent from the field and going 4 of 22 from 3-point range against Auburn.

The Volunteers played winning defense — holding the Tigers to 31.0 percent from the field and 3 of 20 from long range — but needed a compass to locate the basket on the offensive end.

Here's who is out for Kentucky at Tennessee basketball on the SEC injury report

“We believe in our defense,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said afterward. “We struggle at times like every team in the country struggles to score at times. It’s not just us. It’s everybody.”

Zakai Zeigler scored 14 points but made just 4 of 15 field-goal attempts. Chaz Lanier (4 of 11, 10 points) was the only other player in double digits.