Vols fall on Senior Day, 64-58

Tennessee was unable to close out the 2010-11 regular season with a victory on Sunday afternoon, as the Kentucky Wildcats came to Knoxville and defeated the Vols by a score of 64-58 at Thompson Boling Arena.

Brandon Knight played all 40 minutes and led Kentucky (22-8, 10-6 SEC) with 19 points.

Tobias Harris led Tennessee, who was without starting center Brian Williams, with 18 points and six rebounds. Scotty Hopson added 13 points.

“We’re missing Brian,” said Kenny Hall, who finished with six points and six rebounds in Williams’ absence. “He’s our team’s best rebounder. He’s our leading rebounder. That’s a tough shoe to fill.”

Tennessee (18-13, 8-8 SEC) jumped out to an seven-point lead to start the game and held a nine-point advantage when Scotty Hopson rebounded a Terrance Jones miss with 32 seconds remaining in the first half. With Tennessee looking to hold for the final shot, Hopson drove to the basket prematurely, allowing DeAndre Liggons to rebound the ball out outlet to Brandon Knight, who scored just before the buzzer sounded to cut Tennessee’s led to seven.

That may have given Kentucky the momentum it needed.

The Wildcats scored the first seven points of the second half, and 18 of the first 22, forcing Bruce Pearl to take a timeout with Tennessee trailing 40-33.

“We did not have the same effort or energy that we had throughout the first half,” Bruce Pearl said.

“That’s not the first time that’s happened. It’s happened to us a number of times and there’s a good chance that I may actually change that second half lineup to some guys that maybe didn’t log as many minutes, and let’s see if some of those guys that are a little fresher can start the second half.”

The two teams continued to battle, and with 6:00 to go in the game Kenny Hall scored in the paint to put the Vols on top 52-51.

But Kentucky proved too strong down the stretch, out-rebounding and out-hustling the Vols in the game’s final minutes.

With his team struggling at times, Pearl is still looking for more production off the bench.

“Our bench has got to be able to do more. They’ve got to be more aggressive when they’re out there and they’ve got to make plays when they are out there.”

With the loss, Tennessee falls to the No. 5 seed in the SEC East and will face Arkansas in the opening round of the SEC Tournament in Atlanta on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m.