Vols can't get over Hill in time, 92-91

ATLANTA — Tennessee's run for an SEC tournament championship in men's basketball came down to two shots.

Arkansas' shot came from 7-foot Steven Hill, who averages 2.9 points per game and missed his only previous attempt of the game.

The No. 4 Vols countered with the greatest 3-point shooter in SEC history, Chris Lofton, who had made 7-of-11 shots.

Hill swished his 6-foot turnaround attempt with 5.3 seconds left, Lofton missed his 19-footer at the buzzer, and the Razorbacks won 92-91 Saturday in Alexander Memorial Coliseum.

The SEC tournament was moved to the Georgia Tech campus Saturday after a tornado damaged the Georgia Dome Friday night.

The smaller arena and crowd (approximately 2,000 fans) did nothing to sap the teams' electricity.

UT (29-4) shot .552 percent from the floor with Lofton scoring a game-high 25 points, Tyler Smith pouring in 24 and JaJuan Smith adding 18.

Arkansas (22-10) shot .545 with 6-foot-9 power forward Charles Thomas leading the way with 24 points.

As big as Thomas played, also grabbing 10 rebounds, it was Hill's shot that will go down in Razorbacks folklore.

"I obviously did not expect to take that shot, or any other shot at the end of the game,'' Hill said. "A blind dog finds a bone now and then.''

And an eagle-eye misses a shot.

"I got a great look at the end; it was a perfect setting,'' said Lofton, who hit the game-winning shot in UT's win over South Carolina in the second round on Friday. "It just didn't go down for me.

"Of course we're disappointed right now; we had our heart set on making history.''

The Vols advanced to the semifinals of the SEC tournament for the first time since 1991, but they couldn't match the feat they also accomplished that year of making it to the title game.

While Arkansas advances to play Georgia in today's championship game, UT's focus shifts to the NCAA tournament selection show (TV: WVLT, 6 p.m.).

UT coach Bruce Pearl and his players said after the loss they are deserving of one of the tournament's four No. 1 seeds.

"Over the last 15 years, 1999 Duke had the highest RPI,'' Pearl said, referring to the ratings system commonly used in the NCAA tournament seeding process which takes into account strength of schedule, record and where games were played. "Tennessee is the second-highest RPI in the last 15 years.

"We're certainly under consideration. Wherever they'll seed us, we'll go play.''

UT was looking to take any doubt out of the seeding process when it completed a 9-0 run to go up 73-64 with 8:55 left on a Tyler Smith 3-pointer.

Arkansas coach John Pelphrey had seen enough and called timeout with 8:50 left.

"I told the guys, 'you don't have it tonight,' '' Pelphrey said. "I told them, 'You need to congratulate Tennessee. You can't guard them. Chris Lofton is beating you right now, not with his threes, but with his driving.' ''

Pelphrey's tactic worked. The Vols didn't score a field goal over the next three minutes.

In the meantime, Arkansas went on a 12-3 run, tying the game at 76-76 on Gary Ervin's jumper with 6:03 left.

UT forged back ahead 81-77 on a Tyler Smith turnaround and a Lofton trey, but the Hogs stayed red-hot, tying the game at 83-83 on a spectacular Sonny Weems alley-oop dunk with 3:31 left.

There were seven ties or lead changes from that point on, Hill providing the final one.

"You can't win championships getting beating on the boards like we did,'' Pearl said, referring to Arkansas' 34-22 rebounding advantage and 14-6 edge in second-chance points. "Right now, they (UT players) are disappointed. They came here to win the championship. They carried the banner for the SEC all season long.

"We have time to get them focused and turned around. Part of it is remembering this feeling.''

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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