 won their 13th straight game and first since moving to No. 1 in the Top 25 on Monday for the second time in program history. They also have won five of the last six against their in-state rival.The Commodores (9-9, 0-6) came in hoping to pull off their seventh upset of a No. 1 team in Memorial Gym, a list of wins that includes knocking off Tennessee on Feb. 26, 2008, a day after the Vols took over the top-ranked spot. That squad was ranked in the Top 25, but these Commodores are off to the school's worst start in SEC play and have only one senior.Williams went a career-best 23 of 23 at the free throw line. He scored Tennessee's first 10 points in overtime, and his three-point play came after Saben Lee's free throw gave Vandy its last lead at 82-81 with 41.5 seconds to go.Jordan Bone added 14 for the Vols.Tennessee trailed 76-70 before Williams rallied the Vols in the final 1:22 of regulation. He hit two free throws off a flagrant foul on Clevon Brown with 1:22 left. Williams then scored off an inbounds play to pull the Vols to 76-74, and Admiral Schofield hit a jumper with 38.1 seconds left to tie it at 76.Williams blocked Lee's layup, then Aaron Nesmith blocked Jordan Bowden's layup try for the Vols. After a scramble for the ball, Williams came up with the steal and called timeout with 3.3 seconds to go. Brown blocked Williams' 3-point try, and the Vols couldn't get another shot off.The Commodores not only outrebounded Tennessee, coach Bryce Drew got an impressive shooting performance from his team. Nesmith hit back-to-back 3s to tie it at 55 with 11:16 left, and the Commodores took their first lead since late in the second half at 56-55 on a free throw by Lee midway through the half.Nesmith hit another 3 with 6:06 left to put Vandy up 64-61, and a 3 by Lee gave the Commodores their biggest lead of the game at 70-65 with 3:47 remaining to set up a thrilling finish.Nesmith had a career-high 24 points, Lee added 21, Ryan 12 and Simisola Shittu 10.The Vols missed a couple of chances in the final seconds before taking a 38-37 lead into halftime. They never led by more than six in the second half.BIG PICTURETennessee: The Vols have their longest winning streak in nearly a century - they opened the 1922-23 season by winning their first 14 games. The defending co-SEC regular-season champs have won 10 straight league games in regular-season play.Vanderbilt: The Commodores' worst start to SEC play now is six straight losses, but this has to be a strong confidence booster for a group that has led in all but one of those games.THE RECORD BOOKWilliams posted the best scoring performance for Tennessee since Allan Houston had 43 points against LSU on Feb. 10, 1990, and it was tied for fifth in school history. It was the most points allowed by Vanderbilt to one player since Jan. 3, 2007, when Morris Almond scored 44 for Rice.UP NEXTTennessee: Hosts West Virginia on Saturday.Vanderbilt: Visits Oklahoma on Saturday.---Follow Teresa M. Walker at www.twitter.com/teresamwalker---More college basketball: https://apnews.com/Collegebasketball and https://twitter.com/-Top25)
Jan 22, 2019Tennessee puts its fresh No. 1 ranking on the line as the Vols head three hours west to take on arch-rival Vanderbilt in a matchup Wednesday in Nashville.The Vols, (16-1, 5-0 Southeastern Conference) ranked No. 1 for just the second time in school history, received 48 of a possible 64 votes in the Associated Press Top 25. Tennessee rides a 12-game winning streak, its only loss coming in overtime to Kansas on Nov. 23.Tennessee is a 12-point favorite according to Ken Pomeroy. It faces a Vanderbilt team (9-8, 0-5 SEC) that's dropped its first five SEC games, including Saturday's 71-55 home loss to then-No. 24 Mississippi State.One might expect the Vols to relax a bit as they head to Nashville, but history shows that would not be wise.First, the Vols just got a scare from Alabama on their home floor on Saturday. UT blew a 15-point lead and found itself trailing until senior guard Admiral Schofield's bucket with 2:14 left put the Vols ahead for good in a 71-68 victory.Second, Tennessee's only other No. 1 ranking came to a screeching halt against the same opponent, and in the same venue, where the Vols play Wednesday. The Commodores, ranked No. 18 at the time, beat the Vols, 72-69, on Feb. 26, 2008.To boot, the Vols are a smart, mature team led by veteran coach Rick Barnes, who took the ranking in stride when asked about it on Monday."I think it's a compliment that these have continued to try to build this program to the level that we'd all like to see, to see if we can keep it there," Barnes said. "But we haven't made a big deal about it." Tennessee is led by a pair of All-American candidates in junior forward Grant Williams (18.9 points, 7.5 rebounds, .561 field goal percentage) and Schofield (17.4, 6.5, .504). That's compounded by the fact that the Vols have four other guys -- guards Jordan Bone (13.2 points), Jordan Bowden (10.8), Lamonte Turner (10.5) and center Kyle Alexander (9.9) -- who can score, too.Scoring has uncharacteristically been an issue for Vanderbilt. VU has looked lost offensively without point guard Darius Garland, who went down with a season-ending knee injury in November.VU scored 47, 71 and 55 points in its last three games, and has shot poorly across the board. The Commodores don't have a player among the SEC's top 22 scorers in conference games, though freshman guard Aaron Nesmith, who has scored in double figures the last three games including 23 in a loss to South Carolina last week, is a threat.The main culprit has been foul shooting. The Commodores' 119 free throw attempts in league games is ranked tied for third, but their 60.5 free throw percentage is dead last.So has youth. The Commodores rank 305th in the country in experience, according to Pomeroy."Unfortunately, I can't create any drills or anything in practice that equals experience, and so a lot of times we do it well in practice and you get into the game and it's usually underclassmen that just don't make the simple play we practiced," coach Bryce Drew said after Saturday's defeat.The Vols have won the last two games against Vanderbilt in Nashville, last year's being a 92-84 victory.--Field Level Media
Looking for More Picks?
You can browse all the individual handicapper picks below.
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
Pick Center
NCAAB
FINAL (1/23/2019)
SportsBettingPros
