Lofton was especially tough on Georgia

Photo by Amy Smotherman Burgess

Tennessee senior Chris Lofton signals to fans as he comes to the bench during the final minutes of play against South Carolina at Thompson Boling Arena. Tennessee won the game 89-56, completing the regular season with the first outright SEC championship in 41 years.

This year celebrates the centennial season of men's basketball at Tennessee. The News Sentinel continues its series looking into the players, teams and events that have molded an exciting history.

When Tennessee takes the floor for warmups Saturday in Stegeman Coliseum, Georgia coach Dennis Felton will peak around the corner — just to be 100 percent sure Chris Lofton isn’t out there.

Lofton torched a lot of UT opponents but he seemed to be especially lethal to the Georgia Bulldogs.

Three years ago, on Feb. 11, 2006, Lofton broke a UT record with nine 3-point baskets in an 83-79 win over the Bulldogs before a sold-out crowd of 10,523 in Stegeman.

His 33 points at Georgia followed a 31-point game at Kentucky earlier in the week. No wonder Lofton was named SEC player of the week and ESPN’s national player of the week.

“He’s as good a contested shooter as I’ve ever seen,’’ Felton said afterward. “He flat out won the game for them today.’’

Felton doesn’t have to worry: Lofton is playing in Turkey. He left UT as the SEC’s all-time 3-point king with 431. That ranked third in NCAA history. He finished No. 4 on UT’s all-time scoring chart with 2,131 points.

On the record-breaking day, Lofton was 9-of-12 from 3-point range. None was bigger than No. 8. Georgia had sliced an 18-point Tennessee lead to 68-65 when Dane Bradshaw spotted Lofton on the wing and Lofton swished the shot.

His record-breaking ninth trey made it a 77-70 game with 1:11 to play.

“I saw the game slipping away,’’ Lofton said later. “It was time to settle down and get a key basket.’’

That wasn’t Lofton’s only big day against Georgia. As a senior, he was 7-of-13 from 3-point land for 27 points when the Vols won in Knoxville.

He was 6-of-12 behind the arc for 22 points in his final visit to Athens. In the second half of that fierce 74-71 win, Lofton was 5-of-7 from 3-point range.

After which, coach Bruce Pearl said, “Chris Lofton willed this win.’’

Lofton graduated 8-0 against Georgia. Today, somebody else will have to will a win.

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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