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Vols basketball gets taste of NCAA tournament game against Kentucky

Mike Wilson
Knoxville

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Jordan Bowden doesn’t know what the NCAA Tournament feels like. Neither does Admiral Schofield nor Lamonte Turner nor any of their Tennessee basketball teammates.

Tennessee's Grant Williams battled Kentucky's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the first half. The Wildcats fell to Tennessee for the second time this year, 61-59, at Rupp Arena Feb. 6.

But the Vols got a strong example of what postseason basketball feels like from spending Tuesday night engaged in a tensely fought battle in an electric arena at Kentucky.

“I guess it would have to feel somewhat like this,” Turner said. “I’ve dreamed of playing in the NCAA Tournament just as much as I’ve dreamed of playing in Rupp. I feel like I’ve got an idea of what it is going to be like.

“Hopefully, we can continue to play at this level and have a good chance at making a run.”

The No. 14 Vols (18-5, 8-3) added another big win to their postseason resume at Rupp Arena on Tuesday, posting a 61-59 road win at No. 24 Kentucky alongside a win against Purdue in the Battle 4 Atlantis as their marquee wins of the season so far.

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While the win itself holds value, the experience may be even more valuable for one of the nation’s youngest teams – one void of any NCAA Tournament experience.

Tennessee and Kentucky played the entire game in a seven-point window – UT’s largest lead was four and its greatest deficit was three – as the Vols won an entirely different game after winning three straight convincing blowouts.

More:Lamonte Turner lifts Tennessee to first regular-season sweep against Kentucky since 1999

They made winning plays like Turner’s unafraid 3-pointer with 25 seconds left and Bowden’s steal with only a handful of seconds left, while shooting 100 percent on free throws in the second half.

It’s those plays on both ends of the floor that made the difference in a game that was tied for more than 10 minutes and was a one-possession affair for all but nine seconds in a buzzing arena against a ranked team.

“I’ve grown up watching the NCAA Tournament and just the energy around it is a big deal,” Schofield said. “Just to be in an environment like this is awesome. To get a win and silence the crowd is even better. The biggest thing for us is we have to keep pushing.”

The Vols have done well with continuing to build lately with a road trip to Alabama at 6 p.m. ET Saturday (SEC Network) next. They’ve won six in a row and nine of 10 since opening SEC play 0-2. Two of those wins came against Kentucky and one came on the road at Iowa State, while the lone loss was a four-point defeat at Missouri.

More:Vols basketball: Bracketology has Tennessee playing in Nashville

On Tuesday, they improved to 6-2 in true road games in arguably the toughest away environment yet.

“Watching (the NCAA Tournament) growing up as a kid, it’s big, hostile crowds,” Bowden said. “It’s going to be like that through the whole NCAA Tournament. That’s one thing we have to get used to and get better.”

Tennessee hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament since 2014 and still is chasing its first postseason appearance under Rick Barnes. This Vols team is well on track to end the drought, placing as high as a No. 3 seed in recent bracketology projections with seven regular-season games remaining.

An ESPN metric even pegged Tennessee as the team most likely to claim a fourth one seed alongside Purdue, Villanova and Virginia come Selection Sunday on March 11.

There’s still a lot of basketball to be played – Barnes and the Vols are quick to remind of that – but the weight of Tuesday night was felt. The Vols notched their first regular-season sweep of Kentucky since 1999 and won at Rupp for the first time since 2006.

And they gained a little taste of March basketball in early February.

“That’s big,” Turner said. “Any time you can come and get a road win in the SEC, that’s big. Let alone a road win at Kentucky, that’s even bigger to get that and have that under our belt.

“Now, we’ve got to go to Alabama and continue to build on this.”