ROCKY TOP BEAT: Misstep in Kentucky

Area Sports

January 24, 2008

By Frank Gale / Chronicle columnist The Crossville Chronicle Thu Jan 24, 2008, 03:06 PM CST

When it comes to basketball games between Kentucky and Tennessee, some things never seem to change. The Volunteers ran into a packed house and a motivated bunch of Wildcats Tuesday night and dropped their second game of the season. The fact that Tennessee sent Kentucky to the free throw line way too many times and also allowed them to control the tempo of game eventually led to the downfall of the Volunteers 72-66.

As bad as the Vols played on Tuesday night, they had a chance to come away from Lexington with a victory. With the score tied coming down the stretch, the Vols had several opportunities to take the lead but the three point shots did not fall when they needed them the most. Kentucky got the lead and finished the game at the foul line with outstanding free throw shooting.

Putting the SEC's best free throw shooting team on the foul line late in a game is a recipe for disaster and the Vols paid the price on this night.

Kentucky is a tough place to play for most teams and the Vols are no exception. Kentucky is now 82-16 all time when they host the Vols and holds an over all advantage of 140-64 throughout the years.

Fear not Vol fans, Kentucky only holds a slim margin of 89-85 here in Knoxville and the Vols will have a chance to avenge this loss and narrow that Kentucky advantage on March 2 when Kentucky comes to Thompson-Boling Arena for the season rematch.

When the Vols meet Kentucky next time, hopefully, they will have Duke Crews patrolling the paint and they will not have an off night shooting by Tyler and JuJuan Smith. It should be a wild afternoon in Knoxville when these two tangle again.

Looking for something good from this game, Chris Lofton shot 50 percent from the field and from the three point line. Chris also became the all time three point shooter in SEC history. Let's hope that this night will lead to more of Chris' shots finding their mark as we move deeper into the SEC schedule.

The Lady Vols will continue their quest to stay undefeated in SEC play Thursday when they host the Arkansas Lady Razorbacks. They will be playing this game short handed once again as Alexis Hornbuckle will be missing from the line up as she under goes medical diagnostic tests. She should be back in the lineup for the Duke game Monday in Durham. The Lady Vols have their work cut out for them over the next few games to keep their #2 national ranking. The Lady Vols will need their "A" game at Cameron against Duke. The Lady Blue Devils play in a special atmosphere, one very similar to Stanford's where the Lady Vols suffered their only loss of the season.

Once again a football player was the story this past week for his off field conduct when he was arrested for under age drinking and public intoxication. This time Phil Fulmer wasted no time in sending a clear message to both the team and freshman running back Daryl Vereen. He not only disciplined Vereen for his behavior but rousted the entire team at 6 a.m. Tuesday for a run.

Hats off to Coach Phillip Fulmer; his sending a clear message to the team that they all have to take responsibility for each other when the coaches are not around will help to put a stop to these latest incidents that hurt the image of both the team and the university.

The Vols basketball team will host Georgia this Saturday at 7 p.m. and will try and get their season back on track. Look for the Vols to rebound from their misstep in Lexington and send the Bulldogs back to Georgia with "Rocky Top" ringing in their ears from the orange clad faithful. Go Vols and Lady Vols.

Frank Gale is a Chronicle correspondent, and his column appears each Friday.

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