Gators, Vols swap '07 roles

Photo by Saul Young

Tennessee's Chris Lofton gets past Kentucky's Perry Stevenson. Tennessee beats Kentucky 63-60 at Thompson-Boling Arena Sunday. Photo by Saul Young, Knoxville News Sentinel staff

Photo by Saul Young

Tennessee basketball coach Bruce Pearl yells out directions to his players during the game against Kentucky.

Coach Bruce Pearl can't help but notice the irony in Tennessee's basketball game at Florida on Wednesday night.

"Florida's got 21 wins, and they're probably in (the NCAA tournament), but with a win over Tennessee, it's a shoo-in,'' Pearl said. "I remember about this same time last year when we were in that situation. We knew what a win over Florida was for our resume.

"That (win) got us over the top. This would get Florida over the top.''

Tennessee (26-3, 12-2 SEC), which dropped from No. 1 in the national media polls to No. 4 on Monday, has its motivation to beat Florida (21-8, 8-6) when the game tips off at 9 p.m. in O'Connell Center.

"Florida is fighting for their NCAA lives,'' UT All-American Chris Lofton said. "But we need this to win an outright SEC title.''

The teams' records and rankings from a year ago are almost identical when reversed; The Gators were 25-4, 12-2 in the SEC, and ranked No. 5. UT was 21-8, 8-6 in the SEC, when the teams met in Knoxville on Feb. 27.

Tennessee pulled off an 86-76 victory over what appeared to be a tired Florida team that had lost two of three entering the contest.

Sound somewhat familiar?

"This last week was tough because we've been tired and worn down,'' Lofton said. "When we get some days off, we'll be fine.''

By Wednesday night?

"I hope so, but we really haven't had a day off,'' Lofton said. "Last Wednesday was supposed to be a day off, but we couldn't get back from Vandy because of weather Tuesday night and then our bus broke down on the way back.

"We were stuck on the side of the road for about an hour and ended up in a Hardee's in some town we'd never heard of.''

The Vols will need all the energy they can muster against a hungry, young Gators team that proved willing to run with UT for 40 minutes in the teams' first meeting - a 104-82 Tennessee win in Knoxville on Feb. 5.

Florida is second to UT in scoring in SEC games, averaging 75.8 points per game to the Vols' 78.9 points.

"I remember that first Florida game this year was a fun game, up and down,'' UT center Wayne Chism said. "But they spread us out, and there was a lot of running around. I don't want to get tired like that again.''

Orange Slices: UT's next win will break the school record for most wins in a season. . . . The Kentucky contest broke a string of 10 games the Vols had out-rebounded their opponents. . . . UT is the only team in SEC history to have four different players earn SEC player-of-the-week honors in the same season. . . . Pearl said J.P. Prince will continue to work at point guard, but that Jordan Howell could get back in the mix with strong practices. . . . UT remains No. 1 in the RPI rankings and its schedule ranks as the second-most difficult in the country.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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