Author Archives: Will Shelton

Five of Tennessee’s first six conference games were against what should be NCAA Tournament teams. We thought there would be only two others after that, three if Alabama got its act together. But here, in the final week of the regular season, the league has one more surprise in store.

Mississippi State played a bunch of nobodies in an 8-0 start, then went to Cincinnati and lost by 15. A 2-5 start in league play made them an afterthought; they could still aspire to the program’s first NIT appearance since 2012.

But then came four wins in a row, including home victories over Missouri and Alabama. They lost the return trip to CoMo in overtime, then lost by one at Vanderbilt. But they’ve since won three straight, including a huge 12-point win at Texas A&M and an overtime victory against South Carolina. Now the Bulldogs are 21-8 (9-7), 50th in KenPom and 62nd in RPI. This is very much a bubble team, which means this is very much a game the Bulldogs need.

What Mississippi State does well:

• Defensive Efficiency: MSU is 28th in KenPom’s defensive ratings, 35th in effective field goal percentage allowed. They’ve been good at this all year.
• Getting hot at the right time: Five of MSU’s six highest-scoring games in league play have been in February. They actually lost scoring 80+ against Missouri (in overtime) and Vanderbilt, then put 79 on Ole Miss and 93 on Texas A&M on the road. They’re balanced at their best: Quinndary Weatherspoon scores 14.7 per game and brother Nick adds 11.1, but increased production from Tyson Carter and Abdul Ado has fueled their most recent run.
• Shot blocking: Ado is 6’11” and 55th nationally in block percentage, and 6’10” Aric Holman is 73rd in the same stat. MSU sometimes puts both on the floor at the same time, which could create difficult match-ups and opportunities for Tennessee on the block.

What Tennessee can do to win:

• Encourage MSU to shoot threes: The Bulldogs have hit better than 40% from the arc just five times this year. Mississippi State shoots 31.2% from the arc on the year (333rd of 351 nationally) and 30.8% in conference play (13th).
• Don’t be afraid to defend aggressively: The Bulldogs also suffer at the charity stripe, 68.6% on the year (277th) and 69.9% in conference play (10th). They’re not particularly good at getting to the line either. I don’t think it’s in Tennessee’s best interests to do anything to encourage Grant Williams to foul more often, but the rest of the lineup? Might be a good night to get up in their face.
• Take especially good care of the basketball: The Bulldogs force a steal on 9.8% of opponent possessions, 84th nationally. And they’re just as good at not turning it over themselves, which means possessions will be especially valuable. Mississippi State is 14-2 when forcing 13+ turnovers, but just 7-6 when forcing 12 or less.

The Bulldogs have lost just once at home this season, to Auburn on January 13. South Carolina just took them to overtime and Alabama lost by just four earlier this month. They also have not faced Kentucky, Florida, or Texas A&M in Starkville. Will the Bulldogs play their way onto the right side of the bubble? Or will Tennessee stay in the race for the SEC title and firm up its chances for a two or three seed?

Early game woo! 7:00 PM ET, SEC Network.

The Vols came out firing in Oxford, building a 16-4 lead in the first six minutes behind four three-pointers. The lead swelled to 29-9, and was still 15 points at halftime.

But the first three minutes of the second half were unkind to Tennessee…or, more appropriately, Tennessee wasn’t kind to itself. Four turnovers in those first three minutes sparked an 11-0 Rebel run, cutting the lead to four.

Tennessee’s defense righted the ship, holding the Rebels scoreless for the next four minutes while the Vols built the lead back to nine. UT would eventually push it to 21, was still up 14 with two minutes to play, and won by eight. The Vols led by double digits for almost 30 minutes. There were only a few truly uncomfortable moments.

What can Tennessee learn from those moments? I think sometimes the offense seems to get stuck in the space between feeding the ball and forcing the ball to Grant Williams. Tennessee’s best basketball plays through #2, and at times the Vols can get him the ball cleanly and let him do his thing (as was the case against Florida). At other times defenses swarm and deny him the ball, and the Vols can clearly fall back on good looks this creates. But when the defense doesn’t show its hand, occasionally the Vols learn the hard way not to force the issue. Many of Tennessee’s turnovers come from ill-advised passes into the post.

The Vols adjusted; again, credit the defense first for stopping the bleeding before the offense got its footing. And credit Admiral Schofield, who gets much of his offense outside the go inside to Grant/kick it out for three routine. Today he had a career-high 25 points on 9-of-14 shooting, along with seven rebounds. While Williams struggled with just six points on the day, Schofield proved the Vols can still win comfortably. Tennessee also got big minutes from Derrick Walker coming back from an ankle injury; he finished with five points and seven rebounds. Walker got some of Kyle Alexander’s duties today, posting up in similar fashion to Williams and executing well.

Ole Miss helped by shooting 1-of-23 from the arc. But despite their struggles early in the second half, Tennessee still finished with 20 assists on 25 made baskets, the fifth time this season the Vols had an assist percentage of 80% or better (and the second time against the Rebels).

The Vols go to 21-7 (11-5), and could lock up a double bye in the SEC Tournament by the end of the day. It’s the best regular season win total since 2010, and they can tie that Elite Eight squad at 23-7 with a pair of wins next week.

Go Vols.

The things we’ve spent all year hoping were true for the SEC are about to be fully realized.

The league record for NCAA Tournament teams is six. Eight are in the most recent Bracket Matrix, and Mississippi State refuses to remove themselves from the conversation to make nine. And it shouldn’t be eight or nine sweating it out: seven of the eight teams currently in the matrix field are a top eight seed.

We began to see this last year, when the four of the league’s five tournament teams were top eight seeds. That hadn’t happened since 2007. This year, if a handful of teams stay on the right side of an 8/9 match-up, we could see twice that many be the higher seed in the first round.

The conversation sometimes drifts to, “Yeah, but there’s no elite team.” I think this is in part because the SEC’s version of elite has been a championship-caliber Kentucky or Florida team for the last decade. The last non-UK/UF team from this league to pull off a one or two seed in the NCAA Tournament was Tennessee 10 years ago. Bruce Pearl might get there again this season. And only Texas A&M two years ago has earned a three seed outside of Kentucky and Florida in this decade. The Vols still have every opportunity to join that list this season.

So no, Auburn and Tennessee won’t be confused for the best of John Calipari and Billy Donovan heading into the tournament. But what the Vols and Tigers are doing is still better than what any other SEC program has done in the last ten years. And they’re doing it in a far deeper league.

Here’s a look at the post-expansion SEC the last six years. (Note: if the formatting is weird on your phone, try viewing it in landscape.)

	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
NCAA Teams	3	3	5	3	5	8*
Top 8 Seeds	1	2	2	2	4	7*
KenPom Top 25	2	3	1	3	3	3
KenPom Top 50	3	4	7	4	5	9
KenPom Top 100	9	9	11	11	12	14

(* – projected bids from the Bracket Matrix)

When Missouri and Texas A&M joined the league in 2012-13, the SEC was at its lowest point of this century. But thanks to changes in coaching and scheduling, now in 2018 the league is at its highest point of this century.

Along with an almost-certain record for tournament bids, the basement and the middle are both significantly stronger. In 2013 it wasn’t just five teams outside the KenPom Top 100; three of them were between 197-256. Even last year, truly terrible seasons from Missouri (156 in KenPom) and LSU (172) saw both teams go 2-16 in league play. Two coaching changes later and every team in the league has at least five conference wins with three games to play.

And now the crowd is in the middle. Behind Auburn and Tennessee are six teams at 8-7 in league play, plus LSU at 7-8, plus Texas A&M at 6-9 but almost certainly still headed for the dance floor. Teams like Georgia and South Carolina should find their way to the NIT. And, for the first time, all 14 teams are in the Top 100 in KenPom.

There are still three games left, plenty of time for positioning in such a crowded field. But Tennessee has already earned tremendous praise for getting this far in such a deep league. Earning a double bye in the SEC Tournament is a significant accomplishment. The Vols and the league have much to be proud of.

 

It may not have been the most aesthetically pleasing win of the year, but Tennessee’s 62-57 victory over Florida provided validation on two important points.

One: the Vols handled Florida’s elite guards. The Gators shot 35% from the floor, and 57 points is their second-lowest total on the year. Chiozza finished with a flurry for 11 points and 9 assists, but Koulechov was 3-for-10 and KeVaughn Allen went 0-for-3. It came at the expense of 13 offensive rebounds, but Tennessee relentlessly ran at Florida on the arc, and the Gators hit just 6-of-24.

Teams with great guards have gotten the best of Tennessee several times this season. But tonight, the Vols defended really well for most of the game, and made sure Florida’s penetration didn’t get the best of them. Bone, Turner, and Daniel combined for just 14 points (22.5% of the total, which is still in the sweet spot). But they did a good job defending against solid competition, which bodes well for this team in March.

And the rest of the offense was more than covered by tonight’s second point of validation.

Two: Grant Williams is still a bad man. Coming off his worst game of the season at Georgia, Williams ate Florida’s guard-heavy lineup alive. Despite being burdened with foul trouble, Williams was 8-of-13 from the floor and 7-of-8 at the line for 23 points, along with six rebounds.

The Vols were up 10 with five minutes to play, but Florida kept attacking. Williams responded with Tennessee’s next seven points, keeping the Vols up multiple possessions. And particularly tonight, it didn’t seem to matter where he caught the ball on the floor. He just went right at an undersized defense that had no answers. The most important question when we get to March, especially with increased confidence in Tennessee’s backcourt defense, is what kind of match-ups will Williams see in the bracket. The Vols are good enough to win even when facing teams that do have some kind of answer for him. But Williams is good enough to just take over if teams don’t.

Auburn just keeps winning, but the Vols are now two games up on the six teams tied for third place. A couple of those somebodies are going to play on Thursday in the SEC Tournament. Tennessee is really close to making sure it won’t be them.

This win restored confidence in what the Vols are doing and in their best player, and bolstered it in response to their greatest weakness. Tennessee can shoot threes better than they did tonight, but this win is another reminder that they can do just that even when those shots aren’t falling. And it adds to a resume that should keep the Vols among the top four seeds in both the SEC and the Bracket Matrix with three regular season games to play.

Go Vols. Well done.

We get as much mileage as we can out of the “picked to finish 13th in the SEC” narrative, but that story really changed as soon as the Vols beat Purdue. That was 91 days ago. Tennessee then increased its tournament profile in the most boring way possible: competitive losses to Villanova and North Carolina, wins over everyone else in the non-conference. It looks like that will now include one additional victory over a tournament team (NC State), but at the time there was no additional earth-shattering moment after Purdue. The Vols beat all the teams they should beat, and almost beat two teams better than them.

But after a brief set of questions following near misses with Arkansas and Auburn to open SEC play, the Vols provided answers almost every night. Tennessee won nine of its next ten games in what might be the deepest SEC of all-time, beating Texas A&M and sweeping Kentucky. They won four road games, losing only at Missouri by four. It was, and is, the sort of streak that creates an expectation and then lives up to it.

Meanwhile, Auburn did basically the same thing, which kept the SEC title just out of reach. Tennessee’s RPI has hovered between 10-20 for six weeks. Even though it seems strange to say with that whole picked-13th past, Tennessee has been this good for a while now.

So good for so long, in fact, we flirted with one-seed talk the same week we won at Rupp Arena. Did the Vols fly a little too close to the sun? We’ll find out in March. But a 28-point loss at Alabama and what should be the season’s first loss to a non-tournament team at Georgia both backed the Vols down the bracket, and raised questions for the first time in almost two months. (By the way, the #nobadlosses still holds up – Georgia wasn’t a “good loss”, but the Dawgs are 66th in RPI in 70th in KenPom. That’s an NIT team.)

A team with Tennessee’s profile – consistent all year but an elite win or two shy from longer one-seed conversations – feels like a baseball team seven games up in the wild card in early August. There’s still work to do, and it sucks you can’t win the division, but this team is going to the playoffs with every chance to advance. That’s the end result, and you know it a few miles away from the bracket. A team like that can get lost in the grind for a minute.

Is that what’s happened to Tennessee these last few days, or are there legitimate concerns? Here with some answers are the Florida Gators.

Florida runs a particularly efficient offense: shoot threes, make free throws, don’t turn it over. Virginia Tech transfer Jalen Hudson and Rice transfer Egor Koulechov joined Chris Chiozza and KeVaughn Allen in this guard-heavy lineup, and these dudes will let it fly. The Gators are fourth in the SEC in threes attempted and 70th nationally in three-point percentage; Hudson shoots 39.5% and Koulechov 42%. They shoot 73.8% from the line, and most of all, they take great care of the basketball. Florida is fourth nationally in turnover percentage, giving the ball away on just 14.3% of its possessions.

Florida has also been a tad unlucky, especially when it comes to opponent free throw shooting. They lost to Duke by three when the Blue Devils went 19-of-20 at the line, and at Vanderbilt by three when the Commodores went 22-of-24. Ole Miss, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida State all beat the Gators while shooting better than 81% at the line.

Much of Tennessee’s focus right now is on offensive production and rebounding, but Tennessee’s most consistent weakness has been stopping great guards. Florida provides another opportunity for Rick Barnes’s squad to show their work.

On the other side of this one is a road trip through the state of Mississippi and another shot at Georgia in Knoxville. It’s the last test against a tournament team before the SEC Tournament, and will either cast our vision back toward the bracket with a win, or deeper into what makes this team tick with a loss.

9:00 PM ET, but hey, we made it to ESPN2! Have I mentioned we still have the television schedule of a team picked to finish 13th?

Go Vols.

 

Five to go. Auburn just keeps winning, still two up on the Vols. The Tigers have a pair of games with South Carolina book-ending three tests against likely NCAA Tournament teams (Alabama, at Florida, at Arkansas). Tennessee has just one such test with Florida, plus two with Georgia and a quick trip through the state of Mississippi. It’s not over, but it’s close.

The larger concern for Tennessee is (re?)discovering its best basketball with March on the horizon. A six-game winning streak and whispers of a one seed came crashing down in a 28-point loss at Alabama, and the Vols nearly squandered a pair of double-digit leads against South Carolina in Knoxville.

Tennessee is still 13th in KenPom and RPI, and right on the 3/4 seed line in the Bracket Matrix. It’s been an amazing year. How can the Vols work to ensure their best basketball isn’t behind them?

A couple of benchmarks still hold up: Tennessee is 14-1 when shooting better than 36% from the arc, 17-3 when getting an assist on at least 45% of their made baskets. Share the ball, make threes, win the game. But I think what really makes Tennessee hum goes deeper than that.

Grant Williams averages 16.2 points per game, 21.3% of Tennessee’s scoring load. The Vols don’t go as he goes – Texas A&M and Iowa State are the only power conference teams to hold him to single digits, and Tennessee won both those games – but they do go to him first. Tennessee’s offense also looks to create opportunities for Admiral Schofield, next in scoring at 12.3 per game.

Those two are generally consistent in both wins and losses. The difference between victory and defeat for Tennessee is most often what the rest of the team does. And when the Vols are at their best, the rest of the team does two things really well (all this data is compiled from Sports Reference).

One: Jordan Bowden hits threes. Tennessee is 14-3 when Bowden hits at least one three, and 12-1 when he scores in double digits. The Vols looked to him like never before against South Carolina, and he delivered: 4-of-10 from the arc and 14 points. That performance broke a chilly 3-for-20 streak in the previous five games. Bowden is still one of the league’s best shooters at 44.2% from the arc. When defenses have to account for him on the perimeter, everything runs better in Tennessee’s offense.

Two, Tennessee is at its best when its guards produce, but not too much. You never know who is going to be the one on any given night between Jordan Bone, James Daniel, and Lamonte Turner. But there is a statistical sweet spot for the three combined:

• When Bone, Daniel, and Turner account for less than 20% of Tennessee’s points, the Vols are 3-2. Two of those three wins are Presbyterian and Furman. The two losses are UT’s worst offensive performances of the year: at Missouri and at Alabama. Those are the only two times the Vols have scored less than 60 points; Tennessee’s three guards combined for 10 points in Tuscaloosa, 11 in CoMo.
• When Bone, Daniel, and Turner account for more than 50% of Tennessee’s points, the Vols are 1-2. The one win was at Iowa State, which Tennessee’s defense gets credit for as much as anything else. The two losses are Arkansas and Auburn, late-game shootouts fueled by foul trouble and great guard play on the other bench. This team is not built to win playing through its guards first.
• When Bone, Daniel and Turner account for 21-49% of Tennessee’s points, the Vols are 15-2. And the two losses are no-shame affairs to Villanova and North Carolina. All of Tennessee’s best wins – Kentucky x2, Texas A&M, Purdue, NC State – are in this realm. Their average contribution is around 31%. Here are their game-by-game contributions.

The Vols are still eighth in KenPom’s defensive efficiency ratings. They’re good enough to win even when shots aren’t falling. But Tennessee’s best basketball is a balanced effort from Williams, Schofield, Bowden from the arc, and getting just enough (but not too much) from its three guards. And this group of six players all contribute to Tennessee’s stellar assist percentage: all of them average between 1.5 and and 3.5 assists per game.

These last five games offer a last chance to improve before the stakes are raised. The strength of the league means the SEC Tournament quarterfinals will look a lot like the second round of the NCAA Tournament. If there are no upsets on Thursday in St. Louis, Friday could feature eight tournament-bound teams; seven of them are an eight seed or better in the latest Bracket Matrix. The Vols could finish second in the league and face Kentucky in their first game of the SEC Tournament. Nothing will be easy.

How easy will tomorrow’s test at Georgia be? The Dawgs have two wins in their last eight games, but both are against Florida. Mark Fox might be coaching for his job; Georgia is 14-11 but should miss the NCAA Tournament for the seventh time in his nine years. Winning really big in football can make one a little more hungry in basketball.

Their struggles may also keep Yante Maten from SEC Player of the Year, despite averaging 19.5 points and and 8.7 rebounds in one of the slowest offenses in college basketball. The Dawgs are also one of the worst teams in the nation at forcing turnovers. It could be a good opportunity for Tennessee’s offense to get back in its groove.

6:00 PM Saturday, SEC Network. Go Vols.

 

 

 

For whatever percentage of today was Tennessee feeling too good about itself, this loss was a good thing going forward. I don’t know how high that percentage is, but I’m sure it’s there after the win at Rupp and whispers of one seeds. The Vols were humbled today.

And whatever percentage was effort, with Alabama holding a double-digit rebounding advantage for much of the day? I’d imagine it will be corrected, much the same as when it presented itself in the loss to Auburn. Rick Barnes is putting a lot of it on these two things in the postgame.

Alabama still has a murderous schedule left, but their potential is quite high. The margin was zero fun, but this won’t go in the books as a bad loss. It’s certainly not great to see the Vols take their largest defeat of the year, but Tennessee should still have six losses to six NCAA Tournament teams. Credit the Tide for playing so well.

My biggest concern, both coming in and going out of this game, is Tennessee’s struggle to defend elite guard play.

The Vols have given up 80+ points four times this year. Alabama only got 78, but as the backups played the last several minutes I’m counting this one as 80+. And every time, the opposition gets there through its guards:

• Villanova Bridges & Brunson: 15-of-26 (57.7%), 45 points
• Arkansas Barford & Macon: 20-of-36 (55.6%), 61 points
• Auburn Brown & Harper: 10-of-30 (30%), 36 points
• Vanderbilt LaChance & Lee: 13-of-25 (52%), 37 points
• Alabama Petty & Sexton: 10-of-17 (58.8%), 30 points

To be clear, the Vols don’t always get blown up by great guards. Tennessee’s problem with Auburn, as you can see, wasn’t defending outright. It was giving up 22 offensive rebounds. Tennessee also shut down Iowa State’s guards, which is harder than it looked as it turns out.

But against great guards from Villanova, Arkansas, Vanderbilt, and Alabama, the Vols have had a tough time keeping them off the scoreboard. And while some have been hot from the arc, most often they have taken advantage of Tennessee off the dribble. That’s how much of Alabama’s massive advantage in the paint happened today.

And today was the first time the Vols got punched by great guards, and their own guards didn’t punch back. Alabama’s defense has always been good, and today they held Bone, Daniel, and Turner to 3-of-14 (21.4%) and 10 points. That’s how this Tennessee team gets blown out.

So perhaps Alabama is just a bad match-up. When the other team isn’t so strong defensively, you get Arkansas and Vanderbilt (and while Vandy didn’t score 80+ in the second meeting and Saben Lee went 0-for-4, Riley LaChance and Jeff Roberson combined for 17-of-32 and 46 points). But until Tennessee consistently proves otherwise, it’s something you’ll be searching your bracket for.

File it away; the Vols will get another test against great guards from Florida on February 21. Even great teams have weaknesses; Alabama just exploited what appears to be Tennessee’s better than anyone else.

The race is on for the SEC title: Auburn opened the door with a one-point home loss to Texas A&M Wednesday night. The Tigers remain one game up on Tennessee with seven to play, two up if you’re looking to win this thing outright. The head-to-head police department is here to remind you it’s difficult to call the Vols SEC Champions with an entirely straight face if they finish tied with Auburn. But I’m sure we’ll take what we can get.

KenPom and RPI Forecast project the Vols to finish 13-5 in the SEC, a 5-2 homestretch. KenPom has Auburn at 14-4 (likewise 5-2), but RPI Forecast now projects them at 13-5. ESPN’s BPI predicts 13.8 conference wins for Auburn, 13.6 for Tennessee.

Here are the final seven games for each team, with win probabilities from KenPom:

Tennessee		Auburn
at Alabama	64%	at Georgia	68%
South Carolina	90%	Kentucky	75%
at Georgia	69%	at South Carolina	72%
Florida	80%	Alabama	83%
at Ole Miss	74%	at Florida	55%
at Mississippi State	66%	at Arkansas	60%
Georgia	87%	South Carolina	89%

(Oddly enough, the Vols and Tigers have the exact same remaining home/away dates.)

A clearer SEC hierarchy is starting to take hold in KenPom. Tennessee remains seventh, with Auburn 10th after the loss to A&M. The Aggies are now the third-best team in the league in KenPom, living up to their non-conference body of work at #23. Kentucky, Missouri, and Florida are all between 28-36.

But over in the Bracket Matrix, there’s a slightly different pecking order. Auburn and Tennessee both find themselves in the chase for a one or, more likely, a two seed. Kentucky hovers as a five. From there, the SEC has five teams currently seeded between eight and ten.

Alabama is in the thick of that race. They are eighth in the league in KenPom (53rd overall), seventh in RPI (42nd), and a nine seed in the matrix. But their remaining schedule is a nightmare: Tennessee, LSU, at Kentucky, at Auburn, Arkansas, Florida, at Texas A&M. That’s six of the other seven SEC teams in the matrix left to play, and they’re coming off a loss at Mississippi State.

What Alabama does well:

• Collin Sexton gets 18.6 points in 29.7 minutes, a projected lottery pick. I still think Tennessee’s biggest trouble spot is defending elite guard play; here’s another opportunity before the NCAA Tournament to see what we’ve learned. Bama doesn’t necessarily go as he goes: the Tide beat Auburn without him, while he put 23 on Missouri two weeks ago but the Tigers won.
• Shot-blocking. The Tide are sixth nationally in block percentage, sending back 16.4% of opponent shots. 6’9″ Donta Hall is the leader here, 23rd nationally in individual block percentage and sending back 2.3 shots per game.
• Defense, and generally all facets of it. The Tide give up just 31% from the arc on the year, 23rd nationally, and just 29.1% in SEC play. Opponents shoot just 41.1% against them overall. They’re 15th in KenPom’s defensive efficiency ratings. Alabama is 7-0 when holding opponents to 64 points or less, including wins over Rhode Island, Texas A&M, and Florida.

Where Alabama struggles is fairly straightforward:  threes and free throws. They beat Auburn and Oklahoma with above-average performances from the arc, shooting 18-of-42 (42.9%) combined. But on the year the Tide shoot 32.3% from three, 301st nationally. And they are 273rd from the line at just 68.4%.

Alabama’s overall offense isn’t consistent enough to win ugly, despite their great defense. The Tide are 1-7 when shooting less than 43.5%; by contrast, the Vols have nine wins while shooting below 43.5%. So even if Tennessee finds itself in Bama’s kind of game, the Vols are much better at winning ugly than they are.

6:00 PM Saturday on the SEC Network. Can the Vols sweep the week and survive what could be their most difficult test in these final seven games?

 

If you are new to this team or this program in 2018, it’s hard to put into words what winning in Rupp Arena means for Tennessee. Take all this win means for this individual season – and it will be significant – and set it aside. We’ve got an extra day before going to Tuscaloosa, and we’ll take it. There will be plenty of words to come about seeding, brackets, RPI, etc.

Rupp Arena opened for the 1976-77 season. The Vols won twice in the first four years. In the 38 years since, the Vols had two wins: 1999 in an ugly affair like tonight, and 2006 because Chris Lofton willed it to be so.

Many, many Tennessee teams have gone into Rupp and left something beyond embarrassed. In 1993 the Vols lost to Kentucky at the SEC Tournament at Rupp by 61 points. The next four years they lost by 19, 19, 17, and 34. When the Cats came to Knoxville you could at least hope, even if only for a couple of media timeouts. When the Vols went to Lexington, hope died at the state line.

And when Tennessee Basketball came to life, first under Jerry Green and then Bruce Pearl, the results only changed those two times. Two wins in the last 19 years is bad without the 19 years of bad before it. The #6 Vols went to Rupp in 2000, en route to the Sweet 16, and lost by 13. Bruce Pearl’s 2007 team, also a Sweet 16 participant, lost by 19 in Rupp. The 2008 squad was ranked third when they faced an unraked UK team in Rupp; they lost by six. The next four years Tennessee lost by 19, 11, 12, 25, and 10. Cuonzo’s last team got it down to eight.

Rick Barnes’ first team lost in Rupp by 10. Last year the Vols lost by 25 in Lexington.

Tonight, we won.

Rick Barnes is now 4-2 against Kentucky at Tennessee.

Play this game ten times, each team wins five

If it felt like you couldn’t breathe watching this one, that’s because the entire game was played within one possession, except for one possession. Tennessee went up 50-46 on two Grant Williams free throws with 4:54 to play. That lasted ten seconds before PJ Washington hit two free throws. And that was the start of a 7-0 Kentucky run to put the Cats on the cusp of a two-possession lead, 53-50 with 3:18 to play.

Jordan Bowden kept pace with Tennessee’s next four points. Grant Williams hit two free throws when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander missed one. But when Gilgeous-Alexander made a jumper to put the Cats up two with 90 seconds left, Admiral Schofield missed a three. Kentucky had the ball and a two-point lead with 1:09 to play.

It wasn’t just the scoreboard, but the stat sheet as well that proved how close these two teams were tonight. Tennessee shot 42.3%, Kentucky 42.2%. Tennessee hit 23.8% from the arc, Kentucky 21.6%. The Vols were 14-of-16 (85.7%) at the line; Kentucky shot just 72% but got there more often, going 18-of-25.

Tennessee was +1 in offensive rebounding, +2 overall. Both teams blocked four shots. Kentucky had 15 turnovers, Tennessee 13. One foul separated these two teams.

But the most important difference for Tennessee was steals. Most of UT’s turnovers were self-inflicted. Most of Kentucky’s were Tennessee takeaways.

The Vols had nine steals, and two of them came in that final 1:09. Kyle Alexander came up with the first, giving them a chance to tie or take the lead. Tennessee struggled to run its offense all night; Grant Williams had just three shot attempts thanks to excellent work denying him the ball by Kentucky. Admiral Schofield’s 12 points came on 16 shots. Jordan Bowden had 13 points but was 1-of-5 from the arc.

So when in doubt on their most important possession of a game when every possession mattered, the answer was Lamonte Turner.

He was the answer at the end of regulation against Purdue, another 50/50 affair with an even better opponent. And he may very well represent Tennessee’s true ceiling in March. The Vols are a great basketball team. When he’s hot, they are an elite one.

His “why not?” three will probably leave Kentucky fans asking the opposite question, and that’s fine. A game like tonight could have gone either way. But they only go one way in the end, and tonight Tennessee wasn’t just close in Rupp, they cashed in.

Turner’s three led to the second steal in those final 61 seconds, as Jordan Bowden found the ball and found Schofield on a run-out to put the Vols up three with four seconds to play. They survived a missed Kentucky free throw in the final second, survived the building, and are helping Tennessee fans survive enormous disappointment on the football side. It’s funny how it works, but for the third time in a dozen years – after missing bowl eligibility for the first time in 17 years in 2005, watching Lane Kiffin leave in the middle of the night in January 2010, and everything that went sideways last fall – Tennessee is putting together a truly special basketball season from the ashes of autumn.

For that, for tonight, and for everything Rick Barnes has done for a program that can proudly stand on its own two feet, and quite tall tonight…for everything, we are grateful.

Enjoy this.

You know the numbers by now: four wins in the 40-year history of Rupp Arena, none since 2006. Tonight an even bigger prize is on the table: Tennessee hasn’t swept Kentucky since 1999.

In the north, Calipari calls for aid:

We need you Tuesday to be at your best from the tip to the finish. If we’re going good, ride it and push us to make the lead unbearable. If we’re struggling some, encourage us and bring us back. The last eight minutes of the game, do not sit down! We need you more than ever now!

— John Calipari (@UKCoachCalipari) February 4, 2018

When the head coach of a program like Kentucky basketball (or Tennessee football) posts something like this, things aren’t going as well as they’d like. The Cats are 17-6 (6-4), hanging on at 24th in the AP poll. A three-game win streak was snapped at Missouri on Saturday; Florida beat them in Rupp three weeks ago.

Three keys for tonight’s opportunity:

• Who has the better game: Admiral Schofield or PJ Washington? In our first meeting, Washington had 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting, but played just 23 minutes with cramps. While Tennessee’s post players will have to do a better job defending Washington this time, Schofield plays the corresponding role on the other end of the floor. Rick Barnes loves to attack Kentucky with undersized bigs:  Armani Moore had terrific games against the Cats, Schofield had 15 points off the bench in Tennessee’s win over #4 Kentucky last season, and followed up with 20 points and nine rebounds in Knoxville earlier this year. Grant Williams will get the attention, but Tennessee needs Schofield to take advantage to get this thing done.
• Kentucky’s three-point shooting. This season Kentucky is 16-1 when they shoot at least 30% from the arc, 1-5 when they don’t. If I was a Kentucky fan, I’d take comfort in this stat: 30% isn’t much to ask for, and when the Cats can splash just a few threes to go with their incredible talent, they’re really tough to beat. But the memories of John Calipari’s first team in Lexington – still the only one at UK to feature a pair of NBA All-Stars in John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins – would also make me a little uneasy. That team lost in Knoxville because it made only two three-pointers, then lost in the Elite Eight for basically the same reason. The good news for Tennessee: the Vols are the one in 16-1 this season, beating Kentucky despite the Cats hitting 7-of-19 (36.8%) from the arc.
• Kevin Knox is Kentucky’s leading scorer at 15.1 points per game. But he has struggled in Kentucky’s four SEC losses. The Vols held him to six points on 1-of-9 shooting. At South Carolina he had 21 points on 16 shots, but went 1-of-8 from the arc. Florida held him to nine, and Missouri held him to five last time out. Tennessee’s defense has been more vulnerable to elite guard play; they did really well against the 6’9″ Knox the first time around, but how will it go in Rupp?

You know you’re having an incredible year when losing in Rupp could be considered a disappointment. The history of this series in Lexington makes me feel like this is a nothing-to-lose date for Tennessee. But the narrative of Tennessee’s season suggests the opposite. The Vols have stared down better foes, but if Calipari gets his wish, not a more hostile environment. Can this Tennessee team pull off one of the program’s rarest feats?

7:00 PM ET on the big boy network for once, Dickie V and all, baby.

Let’s win.