by OWB
The Tennessee Vols (18-3, 9-1) had Georgia (14-9, 4-6) on their minds Saturday night, but instead of Ray Charles leading the band, Chris Lofton took the microphone, stepped into the spotlight and stole the show.
“I just get hot sometimes,” Lofton said. “I try to just stay hot.”
Hot? Chris Lofton was a fervent fireball of orange causing the Georgia fans to break out into a feverish sweat every time he touched the ball.
Coming off a career high 31 points against Kentucky, Chris Lofton picked right up where he left off. He matched his career high of 31 points and raised it two. Lofton sank nine 3-pointers and set another career high by scoring 33 points as he led the # 11 ranked Vols past the Bulldogs.
Lofton’s nine 3-point shots were enough to land him in the history books as he broke Allan Houston’s record of 8 set against Fordham in 1989.
“It’s a great achievement, but I really don’t care about that,” said Lofton. “As long as we win, I’m happy.”
Coach Bruce Pearl was obviously happy with the win as he led his team into the stands to greet the 1,500 plus fans who traveled to Georgia to “witness” the win. Afterwards, Pearl talked about the win and the pressure that Georgia applied towards the end of the game with their 1-3-1 defense.
“I think Georgia clearly outplayed us in the half court and it was the full court game that made the difference for us and put us on top,” Pearl said. “They came back with that 1-3-1 (trap defense) and about won the ball game. The 1-3-1 really disrupted us. With its length, it’s aggressiveness they played it as effectively as I’ve ever been played.â€
“Normally we respond well to that kind of defense, but no, we didn’t respond well at all,” Pearl added.
Tennessee ‘s assistant coach Scott Edgar thought the Vols benefited from the playing against the 1-3-1 zone and thought it could help them Wednesday night against Auburn.
“Auburn plays a 1-3-1,” Edgar said. “It really was a good scout for us.”
Andre Patterson had another solid game for the Vols scoring 15 points and pulling down 6 rebounds while the rest of the team pressured and ran the Bulldogs into the ground.
“We knew our pressure was going to get to them eventually,” Patterson said. “It’s hard to press them in the beginning of the game because they are so fresh. We were just waiting for them to tire down and we could wear them out.”
With LSU’s loss to Florida, the Vols secured their place at the top of the SEC East and have a 2 game cushion in the SEC East standings. This was Tennessee’s seventh straight SEC win as they look for number eight Wednesday night when Auburn comes to town. You would have to go all the way back to the Vols 1981-82 season to find an eight game SEC win streak.
Tennessee ‘s next game is Wednesday night, February 15th at Thompson-Boling Arena. Tip off time is 7:30 p.m.