Tennesse Volunteers coach Bruce Pearl put on the orange blazer for the second time this week and came out with a better result this time as his Vols defeated the Kentucky Wildcats 63-60.

The victory helped the Vols stay on top of the Southeastern Conference as they try to become outright, regular season champions in the SEC for the first time in 41 years.

It was the last round of individual senior days for Tennessee as Kentucky native Chris Lofton was honored before the game and did not disappoint against one of the teams that overlooked him coming out of high school.

Lofton finished with 14 points, seven of which came from the free throw line. His biggest points came on a jump shot with 1:15 left to put the Vols ahead six.

Tyler Smith was the only other player to score in double figures for Tennessee. The sophomore led the Orange and White with 15 points. Wayne Chism led the Vols with eight rebounds to go along with nine points.

The Wildcats were forced to play the game without super freshman Patrick Patterson after he was declared out for the season with a stress fracture in his foot. Perry Stevenson stepped up for the Wildcats in Patterson's absence, scoring 13 points and pulling down 14 rebounds.

Ramel Bradley led the Wildcats with 17 points. Ramon Harris chipped in with 12 points and Derrick Jasper provided eight assists for Kentucky. 

The Vols shot poorly from 3-point land hitting only three 3s and shooting just 25 percent from long range. Overall, the team shot just over 40 percent from the field. However, they managed to go 16-22 from the free-throw line to make up for the subpar performance.

Tennessee led by as many as 15 in the first half before Kentucky fought back and trailed by only seven at halftime. The Wildcats led on several occasions in the second half but never held more than a two-point lead.

Former Vol great Ernie Grunfeld was honored at halftime as his jersey was retired. Grunfeld, who is currently President of Basketball Operations for the NBA’s Washington Wizards, is best remembered as being part of “The Ernie and Bernie Show” along with Bernard King.

My Take

This game was obviously a big victory for the Vols, and the team has had a very emotional week.

Being named No. 1 for the first time in school history after defeating the Memphis Tigers last Saturday was a big accomplishment. Unfortunately for the Vols, they had to go on the road 72 hours later and play Vanderbilt in a tough environment.

I could tell the team was tired againt Vandy after leaving everything they had on the court against Memphis. Late in the game the usual explosiveness was not there, the defense was sloppy and shot selection was poor.

Having a few days off was big for this team as the players had the intensity against the Wildcats fans are used to seeing from Bruce Pearl's team.

Kentucky gave Tennessee all they had despite being without Patterson. The Wildcats are on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament and today they played with great passion and looked tournament-worthy for much of the game.

The Wildcats are a good team now that they have bought into first-year head coach Billy Gillispie's style of play. They lost games they should not have early in the season which will hurt in the eyes of the NCAA tournament selection committee.

Kentucky will need to win a few more games between the regular season and SEC tournament if they hope to appear in the Big Dance. That will be no easy task without Patterson. 

Some of the things Tennessee did today were questionable in my eyes. I felt the Vols' offense should have run inside-out with Patterson's absence.

Kentucky slowed the game down and it worked for a good portion of the game. The Wildcats took many shots with less than five seconds left on the shot clock in the game and kept the Vols from playing as fast as they like.

However, the Vols' pace eventually wore down a Wildcats' team that saw four players play at least 37 minutes and lacked the punch to finish off the upset in Knoxville.