Tennessee Men's Basketball
Patience is a virtue, and as it turns out, a pretty good strategy against the Tennessee men's basketball team.
The Vols, who will hold the No. 1 ranking until the polls are released this afternoon, scored a 63-60 victory on Sunday to run their home-court win streak to 31 games.
UT (26-3, 12-2 SEC) also tied a school record with its 26th win and clinched a share of the SEC East and a first-round bye in the SEC tournament, but not before the Wildcats (16-11, 10-4) proved their mettle.
Kentucky clawed back from a 15-point deficit despite missing its best player, freshman Patrick Patterson, who's out for the season with a stress fracture in his ankle.
A Chris Lofton drive put the Vols up 63-57 with 1:10 remaining before Kentucky's Derrick Jasper answered with a 3-pointer with 59.8 seconds left to make it a one-possession game at 63-60.
That was still the score when Ramar Smith clunked the front end of a one-and-one free-throw situation with 14.9 seconds remaining, giving the Wildcats a final chance.
Kentucky's Joe Crawford was crowded in the corner when his potential game-tying 3-pointer with three seconds left went off the rim. Perry Stevenson pulled down one of his game-high 14 rebounds, but the Wildcats were unable to get off another shot before the final horn.
Tennessee, led by Tyler Smith's 15 points and Lofton's 14, had taken an early 20-5 lead, sending the Thompson-Boling Arena crowd of 21,628 into early jubilation.
But the loudest cheers of the day from that point on were reserved for UT legend Ernie Grunfeld, who had his jersey retired at halftime.
Kentucky's Ramel Bradley, who scored a game-high 17 points, repeatedly broke UT's press, enabling his team to slow the pace and settle into its half-court game.
The Wildcats ran the 35-second shot clock down before attempting shots. Patiently, Kentucky crept back into contention, pulling to 34-27 at the half.
Kentucky opened the second half with an 8-2 run, narrowing UT's edge to 36-35.
There were 15 ties or lead changes during the final 13:54 after Kentucky took its first lead of the game at 42-41 on a Crawford three-point play.
It wasn't until Crawford's 3-point miss in the final seconds that UT players, coaches and fans could exhale.
"There was a lot of pressure on this Tennessee basketball team to hold serve because of the kind of season we've had and the road we've traveled,'' UT coach Bruce Pearl said.
Pearl started the week in West Tennessee by leading the Vols to their first No. 1 ranking ever with a 66-62 win at previously unbeaten and No. 1 Memphis. On Tuesday, in Nashville, Vanderbilt toppled UT 72-69. Finally, back home in East Tennessee, Pearl equaled his record against Kentucky at 3-3.
"To win a championship, it's not easy,'' Pearl said, "and it's not always pretty.''
Billy Gillespie saw to that with a coaching exhibition that showed why Kentucky paid him $2.3 million to leave Texas A&M and take over its tradition-rich program.
The Vols struggled to execute Pearl's plans to counter.
"They were backing off, building a wall; they're out there denying Chris and helping tremendously off a lot of people,'' Pearl said. "With the exception of JaJuan (Smith) and Chris, we have a lot of guys that are not confident from the perimeter. Will teams back off us more? Perhaps.''
The Vols failed to hit any of the three 3-pointers they attempted in the second half, and if not for 9-of-12 free-throw shooting and strong interior play from Tyler Smith, could have easily met a different ending.
UT didn't trail after Ramar Smith's baseline drive and dunk made it 58-57 with 4:17 remaining, but the drama was far from over.
Confetti burst from the UT student section when Lofton drove the lane, splitting three Kentucky defenders en route to a high-arcing layup off the glass that gave the Vols a 63-57 lead with 1:10 remaining.
Jasper's 3-pointer cut the lead in half before UT failed in its half-court set. JaJuan Smith stayed scoreless in the second half when Kentucky's A.J. Stewart blocked his drive and subsequent shot attempt with 28.6 seconds left.
Jasper missed a 3-point attempt on the return trip down, however, and Ramar Smith was fouled and sent to the line for the one-and-one he missed with 14.9 seconds left, setting in motion the dramatic finish.
An exhausted Tyler Smith admitted relief the game was over and was ready to pass the No. 1 ranking on to another team - for now.
"When you're No. 1, you see it and hear it everywhere,'' he said. "I think losing that spot will put the fire back in us to try to get it again.''
The Vols return to play at 9 p.m. Wednesday at Florida (21-8, 8-6, TV: WVLT). UT can clinch the SEC East outright and a share of the SEC regular-season crown with a win over the Gators.
Prince At Point: Pearl put sophomore transfer J.P. Prince at point guard for the first time this season, entering Prince in with the first round of substitutions in place of Jordan Howell.
Prince, a point guard at Arizona, had two assists and one turnover, playing point guard for roughly three of his 16 minutes.
Howell, who has been mired in a month-long shooting slump, played five minutes, all at point guard. Howell missed the only shot he attempted, from beyond the 3-point arc, and did not have any assists or turnovers.
Pearl said starting point guard Ramar Smith (six assists, one turnover, six points, five rebounds, 32 minutes) played well, but the Vols still need "to continue to get better play at the position.''
Old school: Archived photos of UT…
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
Comments » 103
gobigorange writes:
way to go vols
ncvol17 writes:
Lofton needs to shake it off and lead us with 20+ points per game. Finish strong. We don't need another one and done in the SEC tournament.
That said, great job holding on and beating the hated Cats..I hate those guys from UK year in and year out.
AlpharettaVol writes:
If someone watched the game on CBS knowing nothing about the two teams, he would have thought that Tennessee was the team with double-digit losses and that Kentucky was the team ranked #1 in the nation. Bill Raftery is embarrassing with his Kentucky bias. Wonder what our guys have to do to finally get some respect.
pupvol writes:
seems like everybody has figured out how to slow the game down against us.we have to get back to our tempo to make abetter run in the tourney. and start to peak ANYTIME!
pdhuff#552644 writes:
Well, its a win and that's what counts. No style points but CBG did what he had to do to have a chance.Way to hang, Vols.
Now, go and beat the Gators.
pdhuff#552644 writes:
Well, its a win and that's what counts. No style points but CBG did what he had to do to have a chance.Way to hang, Vols.
Now, go and beat the Gators.
MrBamSeydu writes:
Recently, we've turned into more of a half-court offensive and defensive team. Our fast break points are way down and our press gets broken with ease. At the beginning of the season, everyone said that our half-court game was our weakness. Therefore, we have recently been playing to our own weaknesses. It's time to start running up and down, with less "play calling" and more using our skill and athletic advantage over other teams. The only team I can see us slowing it down against was Memphis, and that is only because they have the same weaknesses that we do.
GO VANDY VS MSU!!!
Timed_vol (Inactive) writes:
Now, some of you birghter folks will realize that the FT's in this contest where almost even:
19 for UK and 22 for UT.
UT does not have that same homecourt advantage that the Cats do.
I still need to watch the game, just saw parts, but FAR different from Vandy. Refs let them play to the extreme.
UK has done a nice job or bouncing back from their start. I still say a lot of UK's bad early play was due to the players pouting about Tubby.
Good luck UK, and c'mon, UT, let's get this thing completed.
lnbadger320 writes:
it was scary to see how KY slacked off everyone except lofting and jujuan. no one can hit a 12-15 foot jumper. as for defense after 15 mins of the 2nd half, we should have known they weren't going to shoot until the last 10 seconds. we need to find a mid range jumper or all the teams we play against are going to slack off everyone except for jujuan and lofton. great win, i just hope BP can adjust.
TommyJack writes:
I love this team, but they're gonna have to ratchet it up if they intend to stay around long in the 2 A's.
redneckerson writes:
geez, alpharetta, quit whining. You're on the other article whining that KNS doesn't post a story soon enough and then you're on here whining about the announcing. The folks I watched with talked about how positive the announcing was. Just quit whining!
dopedawg writes:
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
tigervol9802 writes:
I thought that Billy G had a great plan to beat us. He's quickly showing he's a very good X's and O's coach. And it doesn't hurt when they were just on and hit shots that didn't make sense going in.
pupvol writes:
Yeah chkrbrd little disapointed we didn"t lay a good whipping on the cats,so times they are achangin!
yabadabadoo1026 writes:
red, me and you can finally agree on something---Alpharetta was whining on the other thread that he couldnt post his whine about "biased" annoucing fast enough on the game thread. Only Koolaiders so paranoid and looking for a tinge of anything would find any bias in these announcers--------these guys are great in calling games and Rafferty is among the best----So this whine Alpharetta is total BS----want to whine about the officials now and give that a try. Some people just always have to have something to cry about--enough already----exciting game/good win.
hosslarry#207324 writes:
Well, another close one. I thought that the vols got outcoached in this one and they seemed to play tenative and "not to lose" rather than "to win". Others have noted that the vols have difficulty in a slow down game and I agree with that analysis. There is still difficulty in finishing around the basket and if it were not for Tyler Smith's contributions today, the vols would probably have been on the losing end. The Washington Post has been publishing a weekly "seeding the field" each week and has the vols as the #1 seed in the East region, North Carolina #1 in the Midwest, Memphis #1 in the South and UCLA as #1 in the West. The Post also has Texas as #2, Louisville as #3 along with Connecticut, Purdue, Michigan State, Gonzaga and Arkansas in the East.
ps11824 writes:
Look here folks. Volunteers got the W. Cats got the L. That's what counts. After we've chalked up a W over Billy D and his baby gators, today's narrow escape will be forgotten. We'll be hanging an SEC banner in the rafters, O yea. Don't worry. Be happy.
pdhuff#552644 writes:
Yeah, good win, but I'm glad this wasn't Kansas or Dook. Hators up next.
Doldrums making a comeback.
Hunter writes:
Great story.....that was up on ESPN two hours before it made it here.....
Good win, but certainly not the team that ran Florida out of the gym and took care of Arkansas, Auburn, etc. We need to step up or we're in trouble this month.
RJ_Vol writes:
Go Big Orange! A win over Kentucky is a good win anytime, though Kentucky played very inspired ball. My main concern is this Indiana rumor planted conveniently(before a rivalry game) by KNS...republishing an Indiana print media article. I think BP needs to "put to rest" any ride that those think he's going to take on the coaching carousel. I'm glad we have a coach that is to be considered among the best, but I think the rumor is going to hurt the team in the long run.
GerryOP writes:
Good win! A great season and going to get greater!
pdhuff#552644 writes:
GerryOP - you need to be making speeches to the Kiwanis Club. Inspired me.
Beat the Gators.
wvuvolfan writes:
i don't see where howell is hurting us. he can play better, as he has shown, but we are still not as consistant as we need to be on the half court offense. jordan is doing alright. GO VOLS!
james#216392 writes:
Today we built a big lead then completely stopped playing defense. KY, at one point, scored 6 or 7 times down, most with ease. Effort today was suspect. First game this year that I have said that. We don't always play well but we give effort. Today was not up to our normal standard.
We also had the wrong shooters taking three's. Tabb (two shots), Ramar and Howell missed three's that help fuel KY's run.
Near the end, Ramar gets a big rebound and had Julan on the left side. He dribbles to the right so he can get fouled. Ramar, you shot 50% or so, why not pass to a 70% plus shooter? Win the game, don't try to be the hero.
I still don't think BP understands how much we fans want to beat UK. These are the biggest games, not Alabama, Florida, Memphis High or Vandy. KY are the games of the year.
Good luck at Florida. Today's effort will not win there, I'm afraid. GO VOLS.
perryp1#298222 writes:
After all is said and done, a win is a win. So let's take it. Now need a win at Florida and a win over South Carolina next Sunday.
GO VOLS!!!!!!!!!!
bmaples writes:
Coach Gillispie is an amazing game-plan coach. They lose their star freshman (and trust me, he is a star) and they still come within a missed 3 of pulling it out.
Glad we got the W. CBP and the team had better put in about a gazillion hours practice on how to beat a slow-down game plan, because that's all they're going to see from here on out.
yabadabadoo1026 writes:
james, with all due respect we beat Kentucky so what is it that BP doesnt understand????? We want to beat everyone and so does he and by doing so we'd beat Kentucky. Certainly you are not suggesting that because we badly want to beat Kentucky that there is no excuse to losing to them??????? don't u think they want to beat us just as bad----I think most of us would be safisfied with a split. Where did you get this 70% which of course is not accurate?
bmaples writes:
One more thing -- Teams that win championships often have a close game along the way against a lesser opponent. If the Vols win the regular season championship, this will be that game.
It's still a W. State's got to play Vandy and LSU (who's hot right now), we've got to play Florida and South Carolina. If we win either of those, we win the regular season. That's an amazing thing in its own right.
So wipe your brow, Vols, watch the film and learn from it, and let's win these last two so you can hang a banner next year.
Then let's win three more and get another banner. After that, who knows? Enjoy the ride!
GO VOLS!
coach75 writes:
for us to get better and advance in either tourney, the other guards besides lofton and jujuan are going to have to shoot better. what has happened to howell? he usually shoots the 3 ball good. if ramar and t smith develop their mid-range shot then we will be unstoppable.
SFOrange writes:
great win. at this stage we should be playing at a higher level. is this the same team that had us pumped last saturday night? with a 20-5 first half lead UT took 5 sloppy shots...could have cruised from there if they'd been focused.
james#216392 writes:
yabadabadoo1026- Read what I said- 70% plus is what Julan shoots at the free throw line. That's accurate. If Ramar knows anything about basketball, and I assume he does, he knows they are going to foul. He could have passed it to Jalan on the left to be fouled but he goes right so he can get fouled. That's o.k. if you are a good shooter but that is not o.k. if you shoot 50% or so.
jzt writes:
Way to go Vols, Tyler Smith took over again in crunch time.
Pullingguard writes:
Good Game for viewers watching on TV... UT has surely given three great performances on recent TV and surely have received some good exposure from all this.. KY played better than I thought they would, and UT probably played worse than one would have figured.. But good game.
voltime writes:
Beating KY never, never, nerver, nerver gets old, no matter what the score is, Big Win, especially on National TV with CBS, Looking forward to pounding the gators in their own backyard Wed night, Go Vols!!!!!
girdle1998#233171 writes:
Actually UT has lost one running game(Texas), 1 slowdown game(UK) and in the Crackerjack box at Vandy where only they can shoot. We have won slowdown games at Memphis, against WVU(and I think that game took our legs against Texas the next night), at Xavier, Gonzaga and today. The great thing about this team is they can win running or slowing it down. The teams that slow it down stay closer, but this team has the guts to pull them out. They are the best I have ever seen in ORANGE. If Ramar and Howell can find their game, watch out, because we will be peaking!
Tyler Smith is the best player in the paint that we have had since Dale Ellis. He took over in the Ole Miss game and the Memphis game at the end, scoring the final two Tennessee baskets in each game. What a man!!
volsfan92 writes:
Great to see Tyler getting props here. I thought he played a great game today. I think this team plays together more than we give them credit for, the first 5 minutes of the game was incredible to watch. Duke Crews, great game. Great ball pressure way out front by Chris L and Jordan. Smothering double teams. The effort was there IMHO
VOLS85 writes:
gatornation - stop being a retard, being a fan does not make you smarter than us. Your assumptions are bad, and your facts are wrong. Go back to your bubble team and ask them how getting stomped by 22 felt. #1 SEED, TOP 5 TEAM.
volsfan92 writes:
Lofton is really great to watch, total team player, zero individual ego, all about winning. He plays incredible game-changing defense. Interesting to compare his performance today with Tyreese Rice from BC yesterday (45 points in a loss to NC), Rice a gifted shooter/playmaker, took over the game, didn't play as much D as our Chris L and unlike Chris just wasn't there at the critical moments. I will never forget the steal and pass from the floor to J.P. in the Memphis game. What a season!
bmaples writes:
Note to all Vols fans -- remember the old quote when reading some of these posts:
<blockquote>Don't get in a mud-wresting match with a pig. You get all dirty, and the pig likes it.</blockquote>
We are two games from the end of the regular season, and this year's Vols have lost only 3 games. They've won going away, they've won close, they've won on the road, and they've won <b>31 straight at home!</b>
Enjoy the ride, folks. Approach all of life, including sports, with gratitude and grace. Cheer them on -- you've got some young men only a few years removed from high school playing their hearts out on a very big stage. I've been a Vols fan for 40 years, and I'm so excited for them and for CBP. Go Vols! Win 2 and get the (first) banner!
VOLS85 writes:
hahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah retard
EDis4UT writes:
Okay, this is the way it works in scheduling TV games in the SEC. ALL games are picked by CBS, ESPN channels, JP FSN(Fox) and other little networks BEFORE the season starts, unlike in football. UT has been on CBS two times so far, Ohio St. and UK. UK has been on CBS more than UT. Thus, their announcers will be more familiar with UK. CBS is contracted to show this game even if UK had a 10-16 record.
It's all about ratings for the suits in New York. The announcers are going to play up this game because it's UK. People watching the game on the west coast - drinking their coffee at 9am doesn't care what UK record is, they just know it's UK playing a ranked rival team. Hopefully, one day we will have that draw power. It doesn't happen overnight, but we're on the right track!
The CBS announcers did a good job in both CBS games. Not ESPN quality - but good.
Besides, I'll take all the over-the-air national coverage as much as possible. I don't care how they call it. They don't know us that well, it's just human to screw up names.
volsfan92 writes:
Passion, poise and purpose all there in the stills from the game on this site, lots of intensity from bith UT and the Cats. If you haven't checked out the stills go look
volsfan92 writes:
both
splinterdand#602266 writes:
The SEC went 7-2 in bowl games counting the BCS game. Gatornation's mighty Gators lost to Michigan which lost to Appy State. How's that for impressive. The basketball team has no quality wins this year and won't get one Wednesday. After facing Memphis, Vandy, and UK in successive games, playing UF will be like playing Karns Middle School.
tnlady writes:
gatornation......sorry, I am a TN lady so I shouldn't post what I would like to say. The rest of the gents on here are doing just fine!!!!
tennisvol writes:
Just another big loss for the Wildcats with all those high school all-Americans. Great job by Pearl and the Vols getting the most of what they have in talent. Look at all the loses the Wildcats had at the beginning of the year with all that talent.
EDis4UT writes:
Oh come on tnlady! Say it! Say it! LOL!!
Timed_vol (Inactive) writes:
Yet another tough rivalry game coming up. Our shooting is suffering right now. We are still playing hard and toughing it out.
You do start to wonder about how far we can go in the NCAA's. As with any team, a lot will depend on the bracket.
I actually thought we had a good chacne last year of making it to the finals. A break against OSU, and we are playing Memphis. After that, Georgetown. We were a hot team, and even the against OSU it took Conley Jr drwing something like 3,134 fous to send us home.
dfreeman writes:
gatornation - We'll go farther than that gator team of yours! If your team makes the round of 64!! You would be the stupid one posting trash after his team dropped one at home by 9 to an unranked team!!
King30 writes:
You all may say I'm crazy, but Jordan and Ramar NEED to take a couple of threes each game. Defenses are packing it in against us and only extending when Jajuan or Chris get the ball.
When we were our most effective, Jordan, Wayne, and Ryan Childress could be counted on for a few threes per game between them. Now, with Jordan struggling and Chill not getting any minutes, were alot easier to defend in the half-court.
Despite what most of you seem to think, it's important that Wayne takes that 3-ball occasionally to extend the defense. Don't you think CBP would have shut him down a month ago otherwise?
And, it's important that Jordan, Ramar, or Josh jack it up once in awhile. In fact, I think Jordan should take two or three a game. We need someone other than Jajuan and Chris to spread the defense out, and the only way Jordan's gonna get that shot back is to keep shooting.
Let CBP coach 'em up and let's stop criticizing these young men. This is the best UT team we've ever had. Period.
We've won more than our share of "slow-down" games this year, and there's no reason to think we won't in the tourney.
RAMAR SHALL LEAD US!!!
i love these guys :)
RTYAB!!!!!!!!!!!
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