Home-court defense

The Vols improved to 11-0 this season at Thompson-Boling Arena with an 82-71 victory over Georgia before an announced crowd of 17,686.

UT coach Bruce Pearl said Tuesday it was a must-win situation for the Vols. UT had lost five of their last six games — all loses on the road..

The win keeps Tennessee (15-7, 3-4 SEC) in the thick of the race for NCAA tournament at-large bids. Georgia (13-7, 5-3) had won five of their last six.

Tennessee plays at Florida (20-2, 7-0) on Saturday (TV: WVLT, 3 p.m.).

Junior wing JaJuan Smith led UT in scoring for the fourth consecutive game with 22 points and freshman point guard Ramar Smith and junior Jordan Howell contributed career-highs of 21 and 11 points, respectively.

UT also got a double-double from freshman post Duke Crews, who had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

"We talked about needing more guys than just JaJuan to step up,'' said Pearl. "Our RPI (rating) is 19, and we needed to act like it.''

Pearl was most proud of the Vols' defensive effort.

"That's probably the best halfcourt defensive effort we've had since I've been here,'' said Pearl, whose team held the Bulldogs to 25of-65 (38.5 percent) shooting. "We obviously put two good halves together with our shooting percentage and the shooting percentage of Georgia.''

The Vols, who shot 57.1 percent from the floor, led by as many as 13 points in the first half before Georgia closed the gap to 37-33 at halftime with an 8-1 run.

UT has led all seven of its SEC games at the half, only to collapse over the final 10 minutes in all four of the league losses.

Not this time.

The Vols led 55-44 with 10:05 left on a Crews' shot off the glass, and when Georgia made its move to rally with consecutive buckets to close the gap to seven, Ramar Smith was there to answer.

Smith drilled a 3-pointer at the nine-minute mark, and when Bulldogs' post Dave Bliss missed in close, it was Ramar Smith with the rebound.

Down to the other end went the ball, and down into the basket went another Ramar Smith 3-pointer, making it 61-48 with 8:39 left.

"I've been in the gym late-night shooting,'' Ramar Smith said. "We got the fans behind us and our scout team helped us get ready.''

Georgia drew no closer than eight points the rest of the game despite the Vols missing a few free throws and turning the ball over on four consecutive possessions during one stretch.

Sundiata Gaines led the Bulldogs with 21 points and seven rebounds, but 6-foot-8 junior college transfer Takais Brown, who led Georgia in scoring and rebounding entering the game, was held to 12 points and four rebounds.

"Certainly, we wanted to pound the ball inside,'' Georgia coach Dennis Felton said, "but we just didn't play well tonight. We didn't have enough effort on defense.''

Tennessee, meanwhile, drew energy from its home crowd.

"You could sense our crowd wasn't going to let Georgia come back,'' Pearl said. "Even when we made a couple of 'uh-oh' plays and missed some free throws, the crowd wouldn't let it happen.''

Lofton, the star guard who has missed the last three games after twisting his right ankle against South Carolina on Jan. 20, dressed out for the game and went through lay-up drills but was held out.

"Chris was available in an emergency situation,'' Pearl said. "That does not make him ready for Saturday (at Florida).

"He's got to go through a few more paces.''

As do the Vols if they're to make the NCAA tournament, but Wednesday night was a big step.

Super Scout: Pearl credited first-year assistant Steve Forbes with lending a hand in preparation for Georgia.

"Steve Forbes did a great job on the scout,'' Pearl said. "Steve comes from Texas A&M and Georgia runs a similar offense to Texas A&M. We didn't allow them to direct pass into the post easily.''

In A Zone: JaJuan Smith was licking his chops each time the Bulldogs set up in a 1-3-1 zone, which allowed Smith to settle into his favorite 3-point shooting spot in the corner.

"That gave me confidence when I saw them in that zone,'' said Smith, who hit 5 of 8 of his 3-point attempts and opened the game's scoring in the first and second half with a trey.

Bold Bulldogs: Both Ramar and JaJuan Smith said they were angered by Georgia's attitude in pre-game warm-ups.

"They came out during the warm-ups like we weren't there,'' Ramar Smith said. "It was like they knew they were going to win, and that made us mad.''

Said JaJuan Smith: "I don't even know if they shot; they were dunking and doing and-one moves. That set a tone before the game started.''