NASHVILLE - The Tennessee Volunteers showed they were far from out of gas today as they made one of the most miraculous comebacks in Big Orange basketball history, overcoming a 16-point deficit to beat the Vanderbilt Commodores at Memorial Gym in Nashville, beating the home team 68-59. The 25-point turnaround left the VU faithful stunned as they silently filed out down the stretch.
After having been held to only 21 points in the first half, the Vols outscored Vandy 47-22 down the stretch to post a breathtaking win that left Commodore fans scratching their heads as they went home. UT's win over their bitter cross-state rival stuck a dagger into the heart of VU's attempt to become the 7th SEC team in the NCAA tournament.
Coach Bruce Pearl had his team conditioned and ready to wear down the homestanding team and left the floor victorious to the cheers of thousands of UT fans who came out in force to cheer on their team. The win stopped a slide in which the Vols had lost two straight games at home and three of their last four, and gave them new life and momentum going into the SEC Tournament that will be played across town in Nashvilles Gaylord Arena next weekend.
It was a bright sunny day on the Vanderbilt campus. The Big Orange of Tennessee could be seen throughout Memorial Gym in every section of the antiquated facility, including Big Orange Tipoff Club Chairman Charlie Morgan and Public Relations Director Mark Hancock, wearing their signature crested Big Orange blazers, who made the trip along with hundreds of others from Knoxville and East Tennessee. The cheers were as loud when the Volunteers scored as they were when Vandy did so.
Coach Pearl was wearing his own Big Orange blazer again for the 4th time this season that was made famous by legendary Tennessee Head Coach Ray Mears four decades ago. Mears was honored with a banner permanently unfurled in UT's arena in his honor at the Kentucky game in Knoxville Wednesday night. Pearl was lustily booed by Vandy fans when he entered the gym, just as Mears was so many times in his career.
They booed me when I came out to start the game, Pearl said. Thats great! Coach Mears has got to be so proud that we won and that they hate me already. Thats wonderful! I wear the blazer in honor of the rivalry between UT and Vandy. Don't you know these Vanderbilt people are really upset seeing it now?
As the game's star, Chris Lofton said after the game, "This was a great confidence booster for our team. Regardless of how much this team is down, we're never going to give up and stop fighting the fight and taking it to the other team."
Frank Lofton of Maysville, Kentucky, Chris' Dad, was seeing his third away game of this season, having been to the Alabama and Kentucky games in Tuscaloosa and Lexington, before making the 5 1/2 hour trek to Nashville. In an exclusive interview with me outside the locker room, Frank said, " What impressed me the most was how we got after it on defense, started making steals, and never gave up. We took the lead at 46-45, and then they went back up on us, but we never gave up and kept on fighting, and came out with another win, which is big going into the SEC Tournament.
"Chris has come so far in the development of his game since he has come to UT. It's been huge how much overall he has improved," said Lofton. "I credit that to hard work, and a lot of people don't like to hear this, but you have to give God a lot of credit, too."
Vanderbilt jumped out to an early 12-2 lead, with their leading scorer, sophomore guard Shan Foster scoring half of VUs points on two 3-pointers, as Tennessee was unsuccessful in trying to work the ball into the paint to center Major Wingate. Tennessee went to work on defense and it became a struggle for either to team to score for the balance of the first half.
Just following the last media timeout of the half, Vandy only led 23-17, and the Vols missed several scoring opportunities that would have narrowed the margin even more. The Commodores went stone cold from the field for a large portion of the first half. However, the Vols shot only 28% in the first stanza and were only 1-of-9 from the 3-point arc.
Tennessee fell further behind as the second half started, by as much as 16 points, but was able to trim Vandys margin down to 39-33 with 13 minutes to go in the game. Coach Bruce Pearl showed increasing frustration with the officiating, as crew chief Tony Greene, who was also the SEC official in charge in Knoxville Wednesday night in the loss to Kentucky, repeatedly made calls in the Commodores favor.
Only one foul was called on Vanderbilt in the first 8 minutes of the second half. In the game at Knoxville, 23 fouls were called on Vandy, but the Vols barely made it to the free throw line in this one for the entire game.
UT battled back to make it 44-39 after a steal by C.J. Watson, who took it all the way to the basket, then Andre Patterson made another steal that was converted into a 3-point basket from the corner by JaJuan Smith, making it a 2-point game at 44-42 with 9 minutes to go in the game. That was followed by a bucket by Chris Lofton to knot the score at 44-44, the first time the Vols had been even with the Commodores since the outset.
Tennessee then took the lead for the first time at 46-45 with 7:30 to go with another basket which Lofton drove all the way to the hole. Four minutes later another driving basket by Lofton after he stole the ball tied the score again at 54-54.
At that point, during the last media timeout of the game, Pearl went all the way out to halfcourt and sent Dane Bradshaw all the way to the other end of the floor to speak to the officiating crew. Vandy was given a timeout while juggling the ball as they went out of bounds, to the consternation of Pearl, who again went all the way to halfcourt to protest.
Bradshaw hit his first 3-pointer of the game coming out of that timeout, giving UT its biggest lead at 59-55, but that was only the beginning, as the Vols outscored Vandy 12-3 to close out the game. Lofton hit a key 3-pointer, his 19th point of the game in leading UT, to put the Vols up 62-57 with a minute to go, followed by Moores airball from behind the arc, giving Tennessee the ball and a 5-point lead, the largest they had enjoyed.
C.J. Watson put the Volunteers up 64-57 with 2 free throws and after another Vandy miss, Lofton followed with 2 more free tosses to make it a 66-57 game. Vanderbilt promptly threw the ball away out of bounds, leading to a final UT bucket that put them up 68-57, their biggest margin of the day just before the end of the game.
http://blogs.foxsports.com/MrVolunteer/200...TIME_IN_3_YEARS
After having been held to only 21 points in the first half, the Vols outscored Vandy 47-22 down the stretch to post a breathtaking win that left Commodore fans scratching their heads as they went home. UT's win over their bitter cross-state rival stuck a dagger into the heart of VU's attempt to become the 7th SEC team in the NCAA tournament.
Coach Bruce Pearl had his team conditioned and ready to wear down the homestanding team and left the floor victorious to the cheers of thousands of UT fans who came out in force to cheer on their team. The win stopped a slide in which the Vols had lost two straight games at home and three of their last four, and gave them new life and momentum going into the SEC Tournament that will be played across town in Nashvilles Gaylord Arena next weekend.
It was a bright sunny day on the Vanderbilt campus. The Big Orange of Tennessee could be seen throughout Memorial Gym in every section of the antiquated facility, including Big Orange Tipoff Club Chairman Charlie Morgan and Public Relations Director Mark Hancock, wearing their signature crested Big Orange blazers, who made the trip along with hundreds of others from Knoxville and East Tennessee. The cheers were as loud when the Volunteers scored as they were when Vandy did so.
Coach Pearl was wearing his own Big Orange blazer again for the 4th time this season that was made famous by legendary Tennessee Head Coach Ray Mears four decades ago. Mears was honored with a banner permanently unfurled in UT's arena in his honor at the Kentucky game in Knoxville Wednesday night. Pearl was lustily booed by Vandy fans when he entered the gym, just as Mears was so many times in his career.
They booed me when I came out to start the game, Pearl said. Thats great! Coach Mears has got to be so proud that we won and that they hate me already. Thats wonderful! I wear the blazer in honor of the rivalry between UT and Vandy. Don't you know these Vanderbilt people are really upset seeing it now?
As the game's star, Chris Lofton said after the game, "This was a great confidence booster for our team. Regardless of how much this team is down, we're never going to give up and stop fighting the fight and taking it to the other team."
Frank Lofton of Maysville, Kentucky, Chris' Dad, was seeing his third away game of this season, having been to the Alabama and Kentucky games in Tuscaloosa and Lexington, before making the 5 1/2 hour trek to Nashville. In an exclusive interview with me outside the locker room, Frank said, " What impressed me the most was how we got after it on defense, started making steals, and never gave up. We took the lead at 46-45, and then they went back up on us, but we never gave up and kept on fighting, and came out with another win, which is big going into the SEC Tournament.
"Chris has come so far in the development of his game since he has come to UT. It's been huge how much overall he has improved," said Lofton. "I credit that to hard work, and a lot of people don't like to hear this, but you have to give God a lot of credit, too."
Vanderbilt jumped out to an early 12-2 lead, with their leading scorer, sophomore guard Shan Foster scoring half of VUs points on two 3-pointers, as Tennessee was unsuccessful in trying to work the ball into the paint to center Major Wingate. Tennessee went to work on defense and it became a struggle for either to team to score for the balance of the first half.
Just following the last media timeout of the half, Vandy only led 23-17, and the Vols missed several scoring opportunities that would have narrowed the margin even more. The Commodores went stone cold from the field for a large portion of the first half. However, the Vols shot only 28% in the first stanza and were only 1-of-9 from the 3-point arc.
Tennessee fell further behind as the second half started, by as much as 16 points, but was able to trim Vandys margin down to 39-33 with 13 minutes to go in the game. Coach Bruce Pearl showed increasing frustration with the officiating, as crew chief Tony Greene, who was also the SEC official in charge in Knoxville Wednesday night in the loss to Kentucky, repeatedly made calls in the Commodores favor.
Only one foul was called on Vanderbilt in the first 8 minutes of the second half. In the game at Knoxville, 23 fouls were called on Vandy, but the Vols barely made it to the free throw line in this one for the entire game.
UT battled back to make it 44-39 after a steal by C.J. Watson, who took it all the way to the basket, then Andre Patterson made another steal that was converted into a 3-point basket from the corner by JaJuan Smith, making it a 2-point game at 44-42 with 9 minutes to go in the game. That was followed by a bucket by Chris Lofton to knot the score at 44-44, the first time the Vols had been even with the Commodores since the outset.
Tennessee then took the lead for the first time at 46-45 with 7:30 to go with another basket which Lofton drove all the way to the hole. Four minutes later another driving basket by Lofton after he stole the ball tied the score again at 54-54.
At that point, during the last media timeout of the game, Pearl went all the way out to halfcourt and sent Dane Bradshaw all the way to the other end of the floor to speak to the officiating crew. Vandy was given a timeout while juggling the ball as they went out of bounds, to the consternation of Pearl, who again went all the way to halfcourt to protest.
Bradshaw hit his first 3-pointer of the game coming out of that timeout, giving UT its biggest lead at 59-55, but that was only the beginning, as the Vols outscored Vandy 12-3 to close out the game. Lofton hit a key 3-pointer, his 19th point of the game in leading UT, to put the Vols up 62-57 with a minute to go, followed by Moores airball from behind the arc, giving Tennessee the ball and a 5-point lead, the largest they had enjoyed.
C.J. Watson put the Volunteers up 64-57 with 2 free throws and after another Vandy miss, Lofton followed with 2 more free tosses to make it a 66-57 game. Vanderbilt promptly threw the ball away out of bounds, leading to a final UT bucket that put them up 68-57, their biggest margin of the day just before the end of the game.
http://blogs.foxsports.com/MrVolunteer/200...TIME_IN_3_YEARS
