ATLANTA — A night of survival featured a different Scooter McFadgon.

This was old-school Scooter. This was confident, take-charge Scooter.

Slumping Scooter was nowhere to be seen in the Georgia Dome on Thursday night.

McFadgon scored a game-high 22 points, gave Tennessee the early momentum it needed, and lifted the Vols to a runaway 65-46 SEC tournament victory against Arkansas.

"It feels great," McFadgon said after going 8 of 17 from the field and 4 of 7 from 3-point range. "It has been an up-and-down season for me, but before the game coach told me it's a new season.

"We had to put the past in the past and just come out and play."

Tennessee (14-16) kept its "new season" alive going into tonight's quarterfinal matchup against top-seeded Kentucky. Tip-off is at 7:30.

"We didn't come here to win just one game," Tennessee coach Buzz Peterson said. "I can remember as a young kid when Tennessee-Kentucky was a rivalry.

"I told the players the only way we're going to get that rivalry back is to beat them."

With Peterson's job status still in question, this was a must-win for the Vols. UT athletic director Mike Hamilton walked with Peterson to the post-game interview area.

Hamilton's expected to make an announcement Monday on whether Peterson returns for a fifth season at UT.

The Vols gave their coach a boost with one of their best performances of the season.

Senior Brandon Crump helped McFadgon with 16 points and seven rebounds. The Vols outrebounded the Razorbacks (18-12) by a 42-23 margin, including 22 offensive boards.

During one second-half possession, the Vols took six consecutive shots before McFadgon was fouled and hit two free throws.

"We started off a little slow and a little stiff," Crump said. "We just needed a few baskets to get us going and get our legs warm.

"Scooter started shooting, Chris (Lofton) hit us a three and it was pretty much over after that."

Tennessee trailed 13-8 early, but that's when all the bounces and all the breaks — noticeably absent most of this season — finally started to go UT's way.

The Vols went on a 21-2 run sparked by a Crump 3-pointer and back-to-back 3s by McFadgon.

"Those two stepped up and had big games for us," Peterson said. "Somebody told me they had 24 of our first half points."

McFadgon had UT's final 11 points of the half to give the Vols a 34-24 lead. After going 9 of 34 from 3-point range in his last eight games, McFadgon buried three in the first half.

"It's amazing what hitting one of those jump shots will do for your confidence," Peterson said. "Scooter hit a couple of those and got us going."

Arkansas never got anything going.

UT's zone defense was like a force field for Razorback shooters. Arkansas hit 1 of 13 3-pointers and shot 38.8 percent from the field.

"We really struggled shooting the ball, and then you compound that with our inability to rebound," Arkansas coach Stan Heath said. "Having McFadgon back in that lineup made a difference.

"We did a little better job on Lofton (held to eight points after scoring 30 two weeks ago in Fayetteville), but McFadgon really had it going. It presents problems when they have a healthy Tennessee team. They haven't had that team a lot this year."

UT ran away for its largest margin of victory in the SEC tournament since beating Georgia by 20 in the 1991 semifinals.

The Vols had a 13-0 run early in the second half and Arkansas never seriously threatened.

Fulmer Vote: UT football coach Phillip Fulmer kicked off spring practice Thursday by giving Peterson another vote of support.

"I hope Buzz is back," Fulmer said. "Buzz is a great friend and I think a really fine basketball coach, and certainly a fine man. He has a great family and loves Tennessee. I would certainly like to see him come back.

"But he also understands it's a profession that's volatile. I trust that the administration will make a good decision for Tennessee as well. That's the world we live in."