Strange: No joy for new SEC 3-point king

LEXINGTON, Ky. - What an ending it would have been. What a great story it almost was.

Chris Lofton made SEC basketball history Tuesday night.

Tennessee basketball history, however, will have to wait at least another year, probably longer.

Lofton swished two 3-point baskets in the final 13 seconds to become the most prolific 3-point shooter in SEC history.

In Rupp Arena, no less, his old stomping ground. Against the team that spurned him four years ago as a "Mr. Basketball" out of Mason County High School. How poetic.

But it wasn't icing on a Tennessee cake. It merely kept Kentucky's victory margin in single digits.

Lofton, ever the team player, would have gladly postponed his personal history in exchange for team history.

Tennessee had never started a season 17-1. Tennessee had never been ranked as high as No. 3.

Thanks to Kentucky's 72-66 upset, the Vols won't start this season 17-1, either. And they won't be No. 3 when the new poll comes out next week.

The Vols hadn't started an SEC season 4-0 since 1982. They won't start this one 4-0, either.

Bruce Pearl would have been the first UT coach to win twice in Rupp (which opened in 1977). Now, he's one for three.

"The record was great,'' said Lofton, "but a win would have been a lot better.''

Kentucky is alive. Maybe not alive and well, but alive. A loss to UT would have been (at 7-10) the worst start for the college basketball's winningest program since 1926-27. In other words, pre-Adolph Rupp.

That bullet is dodged, a fact a crowd of 23,443 celebrated loud and long.

As for Tennessee, the Vols are still very alive and still very well. An 11-game winning streak is over but 16-2, 3-1 SEC, is good stuff.

The rankings are nice, but they're essentially meaningless.

This was a setback for the Vols, but it won't be the start of a skid.

They ran into a game opp-onent in a tough house. And, most likely, playing a third game in six days took a toll.

I thought Tennessee looked flatfooted at times, less than mentally sharp at others.

After Ramar Smith's basket broke a 50-50 tie at the 10:45 mark, UT managed only one other field goal - also by Smith - until Lofton's historic bang-bang in the final seconds.

Here's a telling un-Tennessee-like sequence that transpired with a 52-52 deadlock midway through the second half.

Wayne Chism had to launch a trey to avoid a shot-clock violation. Next trip, a well-guarded JaJuan Smith forced a trey. Neither connected.

Next possession, Tyler Smith went on the drive but altered his shot because of Perry Stevenson's reach. Then Jordan Howell missed an open 3-pointer. Then J.P. Prince was called for an offensive foul on a screen.

It was a chance to get some separation on the Wildcats but UT came up empty.

As for Lofton, back at the site of his high-school state-tournament heroics (he played 10 games here for Mason County) he raced up to the brink of history in the first half, with 14 points including three 3-pointers.

The third, a long, contested one just before the halftime buzzer, was vintage Lofton. It took him to No. 365, one behind all-time SEC 3-point king Pat Bradley of Arkansas.

But Lofton was virtually invisible through the first 19 minutes, 37 seconds of the second half. He attempted only one shot, stayed stuck on 14 points, stuck on No. 365.

This night, unlike most others this year, his team needed him to score.

JaJuan Smith couldn't find his range. Tyler Smith (five points, six boards) was outplayed by Stevenson (14 points, seven boards). Howell didn't score.

Tennessee's lack of an edge was apparent at the defensive end as well. Kentucky shot 48.9 percent and won the rebound battle 36-27.

"Maybe we needed this loss,'' said Lofton, "to get it back going again, to play with that passion.

"Tonight, I don't think we all played with passion.''

The prediction here is that UT will look like its old self Saturday when Georgia visits Thompson-Boling Arena - and again when it goes back on the road next week at Alabama.

And file this away, too. Lofton looked a lot like his old self Tuesday: 22 points on 7-of-14 shooting, 5-of-10 3-pointers.

He's the SEC's new 3-point king, with 367 of them. He just didn't feel much like celebrating this night.

It wasn't the ending he was hoping for.

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

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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