Steven Hill hit a fade-away jumper over the outstretched arms of Wayne Chism with 5.3 seconds left in the game to seal the Tennessee's fate Saturday evening at the Alexander Memorial Coliseum as the Arkansas Razorbacks pulled out a 92-91 victory over the Vols.

With the win the Razorbacks advance to play either Georgia in Sunday's conference championship game at 3:30 p.m. UGA won two games Saturday to advance to the final after finishing in last place in the SEC East.

The Vols, however, must wait for the NCAA selection committee to determine where they are seeded in the NCAA tournament to begin next week.

The game was played in front of less than 5,000 people on the campus of Georgia Tech due to damage done to the Georgia Dome when a tornado hit the Atlanta area Friday night.

Both teams looked right at home in the first half despite the inconvenience of the game being moved to a new site and getting pushed back five hours from the originally scheduled tip of 1 p.m.

The opening 20 minutes more closely resembled a track meet than a basketball game as the Vols and the Hogs both shot over 50% from the field and combined for 92 total points.

Arkansas forward Charles Thomas scored 14 first-half points and made every shot he attempted in the half to lead his team to a 47-45 halftime lead.

The second half featured much of the same up-tempo play from both teams.

The Hogs and the Vols continued trading leads before Tennessee went on a 9-0 run to open a 73-64 lead. However, the Razorbacks responded with a 13-4 run to regain a 77-76 advantage.

Tennessee found itself trailing by three points with less than two minutes remaining before Chris Lofton stepped up drained a big 3-point field goal for the second time in as many days, this time to tie the game.

Lofton was sent to the line after a defensive stop where he made only one of his two shots to give his team an 89-88 advantage. Arkansas then used a put back by Darian Townes after a missed lay-up to regain the lead with 45 seconds remaining.

The Volunteers once again responded when JaJuan Smith made a lay-up to put the Vols up 91-90. The Hogs then went the length of the floor and Hill made his only shot of the game on an assist from Gary Ervin.

Ramar Smith quickly rushed the ball down the floor after the basket and got the ball in Lofton's hands. However, the senior could not come up with a second straight game-winner as the shot rimmed out, ending the Vols quest for their first tourney title in nearly 30 years.

Lofton scored 25 points and Tyler Smith added a career-high 24 to lead the Vols. JaJuan Smith and Wayne Chism also scored in double figures for Tennessee with 18 and 11 points, respectively. 

My Take

Quite simply, it's called "March Madness" for a reason.

I thought playing in the smaller arena helped both compared to playing in the Georgia Dome, which is probably twice as big as the gyms they're accustomed to playing in. The game went back and fourth for forty minutes before Arkansas managed to prevail.

This loss for the Vols should make them even hungrier to prove themselves to a national media that has been less than supportive in recent weeks. I still think this team deserves a one-seed no matter what happens in tomorrow's Big 12 title game.

When it comes to March, throw out the records, throw out the rankings, and throw out the "bracketology".

There is no more need for style points. Just to outscore your opponents. Survive and advance.

Dating back to the 1998 SEC Championship football game, the Georgia Dome (in this year's case, downtown Atlanta) has been a Big Orange torture chamber.

With embarrassing football losses to Clemson and Maryland in the Peach Bowl, two losses LSU and one to Auburn the SEC title game, and now after another disappointing basketball postseason, Tennessee has found "Hot-lanta" to be rather chilly.

Combine that with the lack of SEC basketball tournament history for the Vols in the past 29 years, and one could compare Tennessee basketball's SEC tourney drought to the Chicago Cubs World Series drought.

Alright. That might be a slight exagerration. With that being said, let the curse of Atlanta live on.

There's still another more important tournament left to be played.