Tennessee Rolls Over Kentucky 75-67

Bruce Pearl had Kentucky on his mind when he took the job as head basketball coach at Tennessee. Even then, he talked about how the Wildcats were the measuring stick in the SEC and how he wanted to restore the rivalry that once was.

He has taken the first step towards that goal as his #11 Volunteers (18-3, 8-1) beat Kentucky (15-8, 5-4) 75-67 at Rupp Arena in Lexington on Tuesday night. The win marks 6 straight SEC wins for the Vols.

Chris Lofton was on fire, scoring a career high 31 points. He was 7-10 from 3-point range and scored the last 7 points for Tennessee in the final minutes to seal the victory.

“I was proud of my team today how we kept our cool,” Lofton said. “It got loud in here and we just kept our cool and executed plays and got some key rebounds down the stretch.”

“I got some real good looks and I knocked a couple down tonight,” Lofton added.

I don’t think Coach Pearl would agree with the ESPN announcers who kept insisting that this game meant more to Kentucky than it did to Tennessee .

“It’s a big win,” Pearl said after the game. “It’s just wonderful to add something to Tennessee history”.

“It’s really kind of neat to be in Rupp Arena and see all this orange. I think this is just the beginning of all that. I think now we are going to get more and more people. I think we are going to get a bunch of people at Georgia.”

Coach Pearl was happy with the maturity that his team showed in how they handled the win.

“I thought the kids acted like they had been there before. I thought they took it in stride and there wasn’t an over amount of celebrating on the court. We shook hands and we didn’t run on the floor. We just went about our business and will get ready to go to Georgia.”

It’s obvious that Pearl knows how important tradition is to a winning program. He was quick to talk about a former Tennessee coaching legend.

“We wear the jacket to honor Coach Mears,” Pearl said. “I have heard from so many of our letterman that stay in touch with coach who have said he really is happy about this. Now it’s even better because ESPN talks about it and we are talking about Coach Ray Mears again. I know that’s got to please him. We are talking about the history of Tennessee basketball and that’s got to please all you letterman.”

The schedule does not get much easier for the Vols. Tennessee next plays on Saturday in Athens against the Georgia Bulldogs. A conference game on the road that Coach Pearl knows will be a challenge to prepare for.

“Georgia is playing really well right now. They beat Alabama at home and they beat Vanderbilt at Vanderbilt. They have had all week off this week and we only have a day and a half to prepare. I am going to give the kids tomorrow off since we practiced on Sunday. There are a lot of advantages for Georgia but it is going to be Big Orange Country in Athens on Saturday afternoon.”

Tip-off is 4:00pm.