Tennessee became the outright champions of the SEC Eastern Division on Sunday, and the Vols didn't so much as pick up a basketball.

Alabama's 82-77 victory over Florida ruined any chance the Gators had of tying UT atop the East standings.

Of course, nothing really changes for the Vols (20-5, 11-3 SEC). They had clinched the No. 1 spot in the East before Florida's loss Sunday.

Tennessee associate head coach Tony Jones said the Vols aren't comfortable with the perception that they backed into the top spot in the division.

"We're going to come back refreshed Wednesday and be ready to play a very dangerous Kentucky team,'' Jones said. "We're going to prove we're worthy of being SEC East champions and we're still a contender for the outright title.''

To win the SEC outright, Tennessee needs to beat Kentucky on Wednesday, win at Vanderbilt on Saturday and have LSU (20-7, 12-2) lose its final regular-season games at South Carolina on Wednesday and at home against Ole Miss on Saturday.

That's not likely.

But then, neither was the Vols blowing a 14-point lead in the final 8-1/2 minutes of Saturday's 73-69 loss to Arkansas.

Maybe UT was due to have a clunker, or perhaps the Vols were still tired from Wednesday night's physical win over Florida.

Either way, Jones refers to Saturday's loss to the Razorbacks as "an aberration.''

"We had the game won, up by 14 with eight minutes to go, and we let down,'' Jones said. "We uncharacteristically didn't make plays on offense.''

So what now? How does Tennessee get ready for Wednesday night's 8 o'clock tip (TV: WVLT) at Thompson-Boling Arena against a Kentucky team that's won three of its last four?

"We have a lot of work to do,'' Jones said. "We've run into a couple of talented teams that really exploited our weakness, and that's interior defense and depth.

"We're going to come up with some things that will keep us from getting into early foul trouble that leads to Dane Bradshaw or Major Wingate sitting for long stretches,'' he said. "Really, now it doesn't matter what happened Saturday. What matters is what we do about it.''

Defending Major: UT sophomore guard JaJuan Smith led the Vols with seven rebounds against Arkansas. Smith, however, was quick to defend Wingate, who received a great deal of criticism after his zero-rebound outing at Florida.

"A lot of people are saying Major isn't rebounding the ball, but he boxes his man out and keep them away from rebounds and that opens it up for other people to get the rebound,'' Smith said. "I've got to give credit to Major. He opened up a lot of rebounds for me (Saturday). I give all seven of mine to Major, they just don't go down on the sheet.''

Florida Fallout: UT senior point guard C.J. Watson attributed part of the letdown against Arkansas to the Vols' dramatic 76-72 win at Florida Wednesday night.

"It was more physical; we were beat up,'' Watson said. "That was a long, hard-fought win.''

Pearl's Passion: UT coach Bruce Pearl was particularly disappointed with the Arkansas loss because of the importance of the game.

"You've got to be concerned, only from the standpoint that it was such a big game,'' Pearl said. "We're playing for a championship.''

Pearls of Wisdom: Whether they were tired, or just due for a loss, Pearl pointed to the stat sheet to explain the loss to Arkansas.

"We only shot 53 times and we didn't get very much transition,'' he said. "We didn't get many rebounds and run outs, and we didn't turn them over a lot. We had 10 turnovers ... turning people over requires a lot of effort and energy. We created very little offense in the second half.''