Tennessee men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl heard the news about Kentucky freshman sensation Patrick Patterson being injured before the Vols practiced Friday.

Pearl didn't change a thing in his practice preparations.

"We're going to prepare like he's going to come out and play,'' Pearl said. "This is still Kentucky, and this game is for the SEC.''

Patterson, a 6-foot-8, 232-pound center who averages 16.4 points and 7.7 rebounds, was diagnosed with a season-ending stress fracture in his left ankle.

No. 1-ranked UT (25-3, 11-2 SEC) tips off against the Wildcats (16-10, 10-3) at noon Sunday (TV: WVLT) at Thompson-Boling Arena.

Pearl said the Vols' preparation has been largely aimed at polishing fundamentals and improving execution.

"We've had two days where we've focused on us,'' Pearl said. "We're trying to become a better basketball team.''

Kentucky, meanwhile, is trying to remain a competitive basketball team in Patterson's absence.

"I have not been around a freshman who's been asked to do more or done more for his team,'' Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie told the Lexington Herald Leader on Friday. "He's been expected to be a great player, and he's done that and more.

"I told the team it's going to get a lot tougher, but it's not impossible,'' Gillispie said. "Our team has played a special way of basketball in the conference. We'll just have to be a little more special without him. It's not the end of the world.''

Indeed, but won't it be rough playing the No. 1 team in the nation on their home court without Patterson?

"Bring it on, bring it on,'' Gillispie said when the question was posed. "They (Vols) are great, we have great respect for them, but you don't get a choice of who and when things happen. That's the way life is.''

Patterson and Kentucky made life miserable for the Vols when the teams met on Jan. 22 in Rupp Arena.

Patterson, who Pearl tried desperately to recruit to UT two years ago, scored 20 points, pulled down eight rebounds and blocked three shots in the Wildcats' 72-66 victory.

Gillispie didn't say whom he planned to start in place of Patterson on Sunday.

Sophomore Perry Stevenson (6-9, 201), who scored 14 points and pulled down seven rebounds against UT in the teams' first meeting, would seem to be one option.

The other two could be sophomore Mark Curry (6-8, 238) or Jared Carter (7-2). Carter has scored 30 points and grabbed 39 rebounds in 31 games over the course of three injury-plagued seasons.

"If he (Patterson) doesn't play, they'll be a little smaller and that will present some challenges,'' Pearl said. "There will be other strengths for them; they can spread us out a little more.

"It's unfortunate if he's out, because he was right there for player of the year and freshman of the year.''

UT All-American Chris Lofton, the reigning SEC player of the year, said he hasn't given news of Patterson's injury a second thought.

"We don't know he's out for sure, and we're preparing for everybody,'' Lofton said. "We expect their best. It's Kentucky, and that loss up there was real disappointing.''

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.