Strange: Oh-no moment has an oh-yes finish for Vols : govolsxtra.com

Tyler Smith, top, takes a shot in the final minute of Tennessee's 85-83 SEC victory Wednesday night at Thompson-Boling Arena. Smith hit the game-winning shot.

Somehow, a 12-point lead had disappeared.

Somehow, it was Tennessee that looked frazzled and fatigued.

Somehow, it was Ole Miss that looked fresh and confident, ready to deliver the knockout punch.

Somehow, a crowd of 21,846 that had been rocking Thompson-Boling Arena had swallowed its tongue.

Bottom line, somehow, this long-anticipated SEC opener to a much-anticipated SEC season was going down the tubes.

That was the unhappy scene with a little over two minutes to play Wednesday night after Eniel Polynice finished his 360-degree spin move with a fast-break bucket to put Ole Miss up 83-79.

"I was like, 'Oh, no, we've got to do something about this,' '' said Chris Lofton.

It was, in JaJuan Smith's words, a horrible feeling:

"We look up and see all this orange. You're at home. How does this happen at home?

"We've got to put a stop to this.''

And that's exactly what Tennessee did.

Beginning with the moment UT coach Bruce Pearl called time out with 2:19 to play following Polynice's crippling basket, the Vols reached down deep and found the right stuff.

Tyler Smith capped his SEC debut by making the game-winning bucket with 4.2 seconds to play to deliver an 85-83 victory.

Upset averted. Homecourt-winning streak intact. SEC season off on the right foot after all. Everybody goes home happy.

The way this one played out wasn't entirely unfamiliar.

Two games ago, on Dec. 22, Tennessee looked up at another scoreboard at Xavier in Cincinnati and found itself trailing by four points with four minutes to play.

On that day, the Vols regrouped and closed with authority to notch a big-time road win, 82-75.

So Wednesday night, when that horrible feeling, that oh-no moment, arrived, nobody panicked.

"We've been there and done that,'' said JaJuan Smith.

And once again, a post mortem of the final minutes reveals this Tennessee team has answers that last year's team lacked.

A couple of days ago, Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy was asked the implication of Tennessee adding transfers Tyler Smith and J.P. Prince to last year's Sweet 16 roster.

"The rich just got richer,'' Kennedy answered.

How true. Prince scored 23 points in the win at Xavier. In UT's other recent big road win, at Gonzaga, Prince iced the game by getting to the free-throw line late and Smith recorded a double-double.

Against Ole Miss, Smith was a man's man. He got his 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting. He got four of his six rebounds on the offensive glass. He had five assists and only one turnover.

He stunned the Rebels by hitting two 3-pointers when they dared him to shoot. Defender Jeremy Parnell literally dared Smith to launch the 3-ball.

"He told me to shoot it,'' said Smith. "I just smiled.''

Smiled after he drained it, that is.

But at the end, it wasn't time for the 3-ball.

Smith went to the rim and scored the game-tying basket with 1:20 to play, then did it again for the game-winning basket at the end.

"The thing I liked about the last two plays,'' said Pearl, "was he took it right to the basket and stuck it up their nose.

"He knew exactly what to do.''

So did his teammates. Especially Lofton.

The reigning SEC player of the year had the ball in his hands on the last two possessions on the same side of the floor with Smith.

But he deferred to the new guy both times.

"Who else to give it to?'' said Lofton, smiling. "He'd been playing good ball. You've got to go with the hot hand.''

The rich are indeed richer. And because of it, that oh-no moment had an oh-yes ending.

Everybody went home happy after all.

Mike Strange may be reached at 865-342-6276 or strange2@knews.com.