The passionate rivalry between these two Southeastern Conference (SEC) schools, located about 173 miles (278 km) apart, dates to their first college football game in 1893, and has continued across all sports, with the men's basketball series gaining particular attention in recent years.

The barrel tradition was mutually discontinued in 1998 following a fatal alcohol-related car crash involving two Kentucky football players.

[4] For the first couple decades the series was often back and forth, and the rivalry became particularly heated in the 1930s and 1940s, when the Volunteers were coached by John Mauer.

Mauer had previously been the coach of Kentucky until he was let go and replaced by Adolph Rupp, adding additional bitterness to the rivalry.

On March 5, 1966, a standing room only crowd of over 7500 in the old UT Armory Fieldhouse (later that year expanded to over 12,000 and renamed Stokely Athletic Center) witnessed the upset of college basketball's regular season.

As one of the sports most dominant programs, the Tennessee Lady Vols have controlled the rivalry against Kentucky, leading the all-time series 59–16.

Under former head coach Matthew Mitchell, Kentucky rose to national prominence and won 2 consecutive games against Tennessee for the first time ever over the 2013 and 2014 seasons.