Tennessee Men's Basketball
Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl respects the Vols’ basketball history so much that he’s determined to help his players become a part of it.
The Vols scored a 104-82 victory over Florida on Tuesday night, winning 20 games faster than any other UT team while also extending the home-court win streak to 28 games.
“I’ll set those goals in front of them,’’ said Pearl, who improved to 4-1 against the Gators. “I’ll tell them when they have an opportunity to do something that’s never been done before.’’
The Vols (20-2, 7-1 SEC) took a two-game lead in the SEC East over the second-place Gators (18-5, 5-3).
Chris Lofton scored 26 points to lead UT, his fifth consecutive game with 20 points or more, and tied his career high with five steals. Tyler Smith and JaJuan Smith had 23 points apiece.
The seventh-ranked Vols trailed 48-44 at halftime and were down 52-46 with 17:58 to play before a Tyler Smith basket ignited a 12-0 run that put UT in the lead for good.
Florida closed to 67-65 on a free throw by Chandler Parsons with 10:28 left in the midst of a six-minute stretch that saw the Gators held without a field goal.
Florida, however, was able to stay within striking distance by hitting 11 of 15 free throws during that span.
It was near the end of that whistle-happy period — the 9:18 mark — when an intentional foul on Florida’s Dan Werner led to a technical foul on J.P. Prince.
That, in turn, led to an ornery and determined bunch of Vols after Nick Calathes hit both technical free throws and Prince missed his, putting UT’s lead at 71-68.
“JaJuan called us in to the huddle and said, ‘If we lose, people are going to say J.P.’s technical foul had something to do with it,’ ’’ Tyler Smith said. “So we had to have our teammates’ back.’’
JaJuan Smith, most often the Vols’ vocal leader, said UT had about all it could take from the young Gators by that point.
“That hard foul got under our skin a little bit,’’ JaJuan Smith said. “At that time of the game, there was a little heat, and there was a little trash talking between the teams. You know we had to have our boy J.P.’s back.’’
A Ramar Smith dunk followed by a Lofton steal and Tyler Smith basket fueled a 13-4 run that Lofton accentuated with a 3-pointer that made it 84-72 with 5:45 remaining.
The Vols closed the final 4½ minutes on a 20-7 tear that included four Florida turnovers, two UT dunks by Tyler Smith and a pair of 3-pointers from Lofton and JaJuan Smith.
“What we did tonight, we’re supposed to do, with the experience we have and when we’re playing here,’’ Pearl said. “But you could see from the start of the night Florida came in here to win this game, as national champions, and they certainly weren’t intimidated.’’
The Gators held a 48-44 halftime lead, shooting a blazing 64.3 percent from the field through the first 20 minutes.
Florida silenced the crowd by racing out to a 16-3 lead, canning seven of their first eight shots while UT made one of its first six.
The Vols battled back to tie the game at 30 with a 22-9 spurt that included seven consecutive made shots.
UT took its first lead, 34-32, on a Prince alley-oop dunk, but the Gators came back with a Werner trey.
Florida built its halftime lead by holding UT to one field goal over the final five minutes of the first half.
Lofton’s hot shooting (7-of-13 from the field, 6-of-11 from 3-point range) came on a night when he learned his 96-year-old grandmother, Addie Lofton, had passed away in Maysville, Ky.
The only other negative for the Vols was a large patch of empty seats at a game that was technically sold out with an announced crowd of 20,036.
“There were 1,400 unused student tickets,’’ UT athletic director Mike Hamilton said glumly. “There were 3,700 allotted for them at this game.
The Vols return to action at 3 p.m. Saturday at LSU (8-13, 1-6).
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Comments » 137
pdhuff#552644 writes:
Thats what I'm talking about. What a last 5 minutes. BOTTOM- Tks John Ward, couldn't resist.
peerlessvolfan writes:
WOWEEEEE! Thatwas fun! I'll try to think about tonight to soften the blow of tomorrow's signing day.
BluetickBlues writes:
Booyaaah!! In ya face floorda
rockyknox writes:
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DSmooth1977 writes:
Nasty.....all kinds of flashy and nasty....sorry UF...you either smoke or you get smoked and UF....just got smoked.
ryjenkins writes:
If we play like that there is absolutley NO ONE that can even come close to us. I love it! Everyone clicked that game the way I knew they could. Great win!
scott_m99 writes:
This Vols team is flat out awesome! I think they are just hitting their stride and are poised to make a very deep run in the big dance. Hope they go all the way...Go Vols!
DooleyNoted writes:
It's just another W. Peak in March not February. Great win. Go Vols!
milldw02#366865 writes:
Even Lofton has to admit . . . HE'S BACK!!! Those were some sick shots he nailed. Now we have what we've been wanting all along -- a team with everyone playing hard, an an All-American to count on when the shot clock is winding down. What a fun game to watch. Great hustle guys.
VolBall writes:
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Col26ca writes:
I'm in Orlando tonight. Look forward going to the airport to fly back to Tennessee tomorrow. Think I'll wear my Tennessee Cap.
pdhuff#552644 writes:
Did airforceone say Dang?
ksteelescvol writes:
Ty Smith is a Beast, and Lofton is in the zone. If they play as a team like this in march its gonna be a long Dance... Hey 99Gator congrats on a good recruiting class. But Bruce owns Billy D.
VolBall writes:
17 assists only 9 turnovers tonight for the Vols.
Lofton was superb, Tyler is too good, JuJuan always brings it!
alfrizzle097 writes:
Couldn't defend the "pick and sprint" that the announcers wouldn't shut up about. Don't know how many times you can diagram the same play... maybe Pearl turned on the TV at halftime to figure out what adjustments to make.
Refs were horrible in the second half; they blew calls both ways. Didn't affect the final margin though.
Good 20 point win for ESPN to flash to all the potential recruits. Exciting game to watch.
GerryOP writes:
Wow! Wow! WOW!
FatherVol writes:
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DooleyNoted writes:
mcbrim1998, I don't know what part of a 22 point beatdown you thought was close. I could barely hear midway through the second half. Maybe you need a hearing aid. Go Vols!
dfreeman writes:
Mcbrim - Could you show your ignorance a little more please for everyone to see?? By the way ask your football coach if he has anymore gymnastic scholarships! There are a few more recruits to shore up down there!!
chucker6 writes:
Great win and tremendous heart Vols! The officiating was the worst in an important game that I've seen in playing, coaching and watching basketball for over 40 years. How in the hell Prince got a technical and the smirking Werner wasn't tossed ought to be a question for the SEC head of officiating. I'm obviously biased, but not as much as the chickensxxx ref calls on our big guys. Keeping at it and pouring it on instead of getting frustrated says a lot about the poise, maturity and coaching of this team. Go Vols!
VOLS85 writes:
For all of you who were concerned about our crowd not getting into it, please note tonight. Our fans were awesome! I must note that me and my friends in the student section were riotous the entire night and stood the entire time.
GO VOLS!!!!
20-2
Hacksaw57 writes:
SIMPLY AMAZING!
TBA was rocking tonight! The crowd just needs to keep it going FULL TIME instead of most of the time. CL is back - had a great game tonight with some clutch 3's. The Smith Boys were tremendous tonight. EVERYONE played a FULL game.
No Doubt About This One. To hang more than a hundred on the Gators is something special.
Ted Valentine is a D**N JOKE as an official. How can anybody so full of himself justify officiating a game non-biased is ridiculous. He is only on the floor to put on a show to bring attention to himself. Bob Knight should have CLOCKED his a** a few years ago when he threw Coach out of the game and knocked some of that showboat out of him.
If we get this guy one more time as an official I think I will throw up.
GREAT GAME, GUYS! GO VOLS!!!!
ajbake writes:
I am shocked Ted Valentine's ego fits thru the tunnel at Thompson-Boling. SEC needs to do what the Big Ten did ten years ago... get rid of Ted!
slambob2#228938 writes:
Who is the ref who called the "T" on Prince? That guy blew calls in the Gators favor all night long and has a history of skewering the Vols every time he's on the court.
I hope they have the same rule in basketball as they do in football and BP can ban that guy from Thompson-Boling.
What a huge night to be a Vol fan. Crushing the Gators by 22, passing 100 points, winning our 27th straight home game; taking our 4th in 5 from the Gators and doing it all on national TV.
Ya gotta love this team.
slambob
Timed_vol (Inactive) writes:
Tell ya what;
UF played a helluva game for 30 minutes or so. You can see why Billy D got the championships.
Hope no vol fans are dumb enough to trash talk UF. They had us on the ropes for a while.
Tyler Smith?? I underestimated his value. Used to be when the ball got to that spot on the court, not much happened. Now, when Tyler gets it, it's action at the rim.
Great allaround games from Chris and jaJuan.
cjraney writes:
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Hacksaw57 writes:
Ted Valentine is NO SEC official. As with most "Big Time" refs such as he SUPPOSEDLY is, they travel all over the Nation to officiate the "Big Games". There are a select few that are privileged to be able to do so. I’ve had to watch this JOKE of a basketball official for the past 10 years and he HASN'T GOTTEN BETTER! HE'S WORSE than he was when he broke in. Just ask Coach Knight, who has called him a LOT WORSE names than I have, and a lot of other coaches.
slambob2#228938 writes:
Ok, I see it was Ted Valentine. He's consistenly dreadful and showboating.
I remember him sticking his hand in CBP's face like he was saying "talk to the hand". I couldn't believe it.
The SEC has got to get rid of him. He's a disgrace.
slambob
Timed_vol (Inactive) writes:
Hey, this should be a rule change: intentional fouls should count as 2 or 3 points, depending on the spot on the floor AND possession. No more ft shooting. That was almsot a wreck, UF got the technicals, and JP missed both.
VOLS85 writes:
The true indicator of how ludicrous and uninformed some of the people on this forum are can be summed up by mcbrim.
You in no way can say that this crowd didn't show up. Tell that to me the student who was at the game, standing, screaming til I lost my voice tonight.
Please do indicate where the #22nd ranked team in the country almost beat us? Hanging with a team and beating a team is a huge difference buddy, and they couldn't hang with our ridiculous depth and offense. 22 POINT BLOWOUT, shut your mouth until you realize how to comment on a basketball game
ajbake writes:
McBrim: Tonight was probably the loudest of the over 2000 basketball games I have attended (anywhere) in my life. Wow!
MrBamSeydu writes:
Great win, but I want to comment on the refs:
Ted Valentine (the black ref) has been way too involved in every SEC game he's called this season. He is a joke and I hope he, in no way, refs any NCAA regional games in which we are apart of. 51 total fouls???? Is that a joke? The other ref (old white guy) was just as horrible. And no, I'm not being biased, I'm talking BOTH WAYS. We got the brunt of bad calls, but some of the contact they were seeing was non-existent. The technical on JP shouldn't have been called, his teammates quickly pulled him away and there was no contact or immediate threat.... he was just angry (and rightfully so) but yet T.V. (Ted Valentine--- who must like the game to revolve around his calls) felt necessary to make the "technical foul" signal 19 times in a row in JP's face. People don't buy tickets to see a free throw contest. The refs need to call obvious fouls and stay the hell out of the game. It's getting ridiculous!!!!
bhjohnso#207063 writes:
has anyone ever seen a more overofficiated game? let the guys play for crying out loud. both ways. i don't understand it. it's like the teddy v crew can't be outshone by two talented teams running up and down the floor. i almost think this game should be thrown out and started over on another day...but not really!
slambob2#228938 writes:
I finally agree with Coach Knight on something. Ted Valentine needs to stick to WCW officiating.
Kwitcherbellyachin writes:
"Landslide victory for Vols"... just noticed the allusion to Super Tuesday, Election Day. Heh.
dfreeman writes:
Werner's smirk at Prince after that bs he pulled should have got him ejected!! He was baiting Prince all the way, what a punk!!
Hunter writes:
I want to point out a severe problem this evening that the SEC should certainly review(cough, cough):
By my count, Florida should have shot 10 free throws coming off of the technical - VALENTINE FELT IT ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY TO "T" HIM UP 5 FREAKIN TIMES IN A ROW!!!!!
Is it any wonder this piss poor excuse for an official has the initials "T.V."? He's made for it.....Can we get Robert Montgomery Knight to come sit on our bench and "Valentine-proof" our team by knocking him senseless with a Big Orange chair toss every game?
cjraney writes:
McBrim, did you see the game in T-town last week? Your precious Tide drank the orange kool-aid on their home court. But you really showed us by coming on here to talk smack after we waxed a division rival by 22. Well played. Please call off the dogs McBrim, you're just too good.
VolCane7979 writes:
Well said bhjohnso. I can't recall watching a game where both teams were in the double bonus at the 10 minute mark. The SEC officiating deities need to review this tape. Valentine looked like he was as happy as a pig in sh*t when he was flashing that T sign in JP's grill.
mcjoke1998 - that's just an ignorant comment. Own up to the beating.
VolBall writes:
Ted Valentine SUCKS. He officiated the Ole Miss/UT game earlier this year and the UT/VAndy game as well. He called a very questionable technical on Pearl during the Ole Miss game during a critical time. His technical on J.P. tonight was totally unnecessary. The 4th foul he called on Chism (where he motioned a chicken-wing) was totally a poor call as the Florida player was initiating the contact. The foul Valentine called on Crews late in the 1st half, when Crews was simply running alongside the Florida player as the shot clock was running down, was the worst call I've ever seen.
Valentine SUCKS!
surlyguy writes:
In addition to the excellent performances by our marquee players, a really good sign is the continued emerging grittiness, toughness, and hustle of Brian Williams. It looks like his teammates love him and that he will continue to exhibit more and more of the style of play and intensity that Coach Pearl apparently cherishes in his players and especially in a big man.
hdhurst writes:
Just a few thoughts...
Pearl and Co. are finishing strong now, something they lacked earlier in the year. Nice adjustments on Pearl's part to back off the press more in the 2nd half. It not only slowed FL down, it helped our guys utilize their energy for their amazing comeback.
yes, my friends, Lofton is back...the rim just got bigger and he is certainly living up to his pre-season billing.
Prince is not quite there yet, but I can see him coming back to his original form from Dec.
Free throw % improved tonight...hope it continues to rise a little more.
We continue to hold our own on the boards, certainly not bad for a team that is more guard oriented.
GO VOLS....enjoyed watching baby gators go down.
yabadabadoo1026 writes:
wowwwwwwwwww-----greatttttttt win--what a show/couldnt be better--had it going on inside and outside to fill up a highlight show but as to be expected again we win by 20 and everyone only want to complain about officiating---you people are sick/ it made no difference----so who now is going to be the first to start up now with the to be expected ESPN dont like us stuff----never seen such a bunch of whinners about everything
ryjenkins writes:
I agree the officiating was horrible but you have to admit it was bad for both teams. These officals are so ready to blow the whistle with the smallest amount of contact and it really disrupts the flow of the game. But it wouldn't have mattered how the called the game tonight because nobody was stopping us.
VolBall writes:
No question, the poor calls went both ways.
dfreeman writes:
Yabababble - I thought the officiating was bad both ways! My only real problem was the Werner kid smirking at Prince after everyone in TBA knew he just tackled him on purpose! That kid should have been shown the door!! He was baiting Prince and should've had his teeth knocked through the back of his throat!!
VolCane7979 writes:
It absolutely was bad both ways. Although I am biased, I thought there were more touch fouls on TN. Keep it rolling down in Baton Rouge.
Chainsaw writes:
Fantastic game. Loudest the fans have been all season. But I swear, that was the poorest job of officiating I have ever seen. I wish Ted V. would catch a terminal case of the clap and spend the rest of his days as a test subject for experimental antibiotics. What a freaking butt nugget. He really needs to be reassigned to making sure the balls have the correct air pressure or something.
dfreeman writes:
Chainsaw - butt nugget?? LMAO!! That's the funniest thing I've heard all night!! I may be slap happy right now!! Can't wait til signing day is over so I can forget about football for a little bit!
Chainsaw writes:
VOLS85: Yes, the student section was incredible tonight. You guys were so loud, I couldn't hear myself scream. Great effort! Please bring that back for the remainder of the home games!
Dfreeman: I'm punch drunk as well. Nothing like putting a century+ on the the repulsive reptiles of roundball.
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