A 21-point Tennessee lead over Vanderbilt had dwindled to eight with 7½ minutes remaining when coach Bruce Pearl called timeout.

“Coach just told us not to slow down,’’ senior guard JaJuan Smith said. “He just told us to keep attacking, and refocus.’’

It turned out to be that simple.

Tennessee (15-1, 3-0 SEC) scored an 80-60 victory Thursday over the No. 16 Commodores (16-2, 1-2), bringing most of the Thompson-Boling sellout crowd of 20,799 to their collective feet on numerous occasions while providing ESPN with plenty of highlights.

It was the sixth-ranked Vols’ 25th consecutive win at home, and 10th in a row this season.

UT’s Tyler Smith provided what was perhaps the most pivotal SportsCenter moment, tipping the ball from Vandy’s Ross Neltner to JaJuan Smith, who fed it back to Tyler for an authoritative dunk at the 5:42 mark.

The slam gave the Vols a 63-53 lead, re-ignited the crowd and sent a “Not Tonight’’ message to the Commodores.

Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings received a technical foul 22 seconds after Tyler Smith’s dunk leading to a Chris Lofton free throw and a Wayne Chism tip-in.

The Commodores never got closer to 10 points for the rest of the game.

“Sometimes,’’ JaJuan Smith said, “it takes a dunk to get you going like that.’’

It also took great perimeter defense and one of the strongest performances in Chism’s career.

Chism scored 18 points while posting career highs of 18 rebounds and four steals, all the while keeping Vanderbilt freshman center sensation A.J. Ogilvy (12 points, five rebounds) in check.

The Vols’ defense was just as stingy on the perimeter.

The Commodores entered the game leading the nation in 3-point field-goal percentage (43.9 percent).

But with JaJuan Smith, Ramar Smith, Jordan Howell and Lofton all but inside their jerseys, Vanderbilt’s shooters hit 3-of-21 (14.3 percent) from beyond the 3-point line.

Commodores’ marksman Shan Foster, who entered the game leading the SEC in scoring (20.6 points) and 3-point field goal percentage (51.1), was held to 14 points, hitting 1-of-11 of his 3-point attempts.

“We tried to make his catches difficult,’’ Pearl said, “and stay pressed up with him.’’

Vanderbilt would have done well to apply the same strategy in the second half against Lofton.

After being held scoreless for the first 25 minutes of the game, Lofton buried a 3-pointer from the corner, scoring eight points in three minutes in the midst of a 19-6 Tennessee run. Lofton’s 3-pointer at the 11:22 mark gave the Vols a 59-38 lead.

Pearl said he could hear and feel the crowd “willing’’ Lofton’s shots to go in, and so could the preseason All-American.

“It’s just great to have that crowd behind me,’’ Lofton said. “They know I haven’t played good this season.

“But Wayne was the story tonight. He came to play, he was a monster on the boards and he led us.’’

The Vols held a 36-23 lead at the half, thanks in large part to a 16-3 run.

The teams slugged it out the first 11 minutes with Vanderbilt cutting a UT lead to 17-15 on a turnaround jumper by Foster with 8:47 on the clock.

But then J.P. Prince scored on a drive, and Howell followed with a trey, and the Vols caught fire.

Tyler Smith stole the ball from Ogilvy on the next possession and passed upcourt to Prince. Prince slowed the break and lobbed a pass skyward that a streaking Tyler Smith slammed down to ignite the crowd.

Foster scored to pull Vanderbilt back to 24-17, but Chism kept the run going with a steal and 3-pointer.

Foster came back to hit a free throw before Ryan Childress and Chism hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Vols their largest lead of the first half at 33-18 with 3:56 left,

UT returns to action Saturday (TV: WVLT, 3:30 p.m.) at home against Ohio State.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.