Nashville, Tenn. ? The Tennessee Volunteers found out being No. 1 can be tougher than beating No. 1.
Shan Foster scored 32 points and No. 18 Vanderbilt knocked off Tennessee, 72-69, on Tuesday night – a day after the Vols moved into the top spot in the rankings for the first time in school history.
The Vols (25-3, 11-2 Southeastern Conference) beat then-No. 1 Memphis on Saturday night, 66-62, on the western edge of Tennessee for their ninth straight victory to earn that spot themselves, then had to travel back to the middle part of the state to defend their top ranking for the first time.
Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl said his Vols were fine, not exhausted by two road games against instate rivals in about 72 hours.
“I thought we put ourselves in a position in the second half on the road to be able to gut one out again, and they got a period there in the second half defensively where we just fouled them and sent them to the foul line a boatload of times. I thought that was a real difference,” Pearl said.
Vanderbilt (24-4, 9-4) has played host to the No. 1 team nine times in its 56 years at Memorial Gym, and the Commodores improved to 6-3 overall in those games with victories in the past four, including then-No. 1 Florida last year. The Commodores also now have won all 18 home games this season and 31 of their last 32.
“It’s special,” Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said. “We needed a win. It was a home game. It’s a big game for them. You want to win any game, but you certainly want to win big games. This was a big game.”
Jermaine Beal added 17 points and Alex Gordon 11 as Vanderbilt won its seventh straight. The Dores moved into a tie with Kentucky for second in the SEC East, a mere game behind the Vols with three games to play.
No. 12 Indiana 72 Ohio State 69
Bloomington, Ind. – Armon Bassett scored 23 points, and Eric Gordon added 17 to lead 12th-ranked Indiana (24-4, 13-2 Big Ten) past Ohio State for Dan Dakich’s first coaching victory at Assembly Hall.
Dakich replaced Kelvin Sampson as Indiana’s coach Friday, after Sampson resigned amid a phone-call scandal.
No. 15 Connecticut 79, Rutgers 61
Piscataway, N.J. – Jeff Adrien scored a career-high 27 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead Connecticut over Rutgers, the Huskies’ 11th victory in 12 games. Stanley Robinson, who had 13 rebounds, and Craig Austrie both added 18 points for Connecticut (22-6, 11-4).
Missouri State 86. No. 20 Drake 83
Springfield, Mo. – Deven Mitchell scored 20 points, and Missouri State closed the John Q. Hammons Student Center with a victory over Drake. Missouri State beat the Bulldogs for the seventh straight time at home.
