Filed under: Tennessee, Vanderbilt, SEC

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee came in from the snow falling outside Vanderbilt‘s Memorial Gym Tuesday night, but the Volunteers never managed to heat up. Outplayed and outworked by the Commodores, Tennessee fell behind 19-4 less than eight minutes in, and ensured that the only drama would be whether Bruce Pearl would choose to be ejected from the game or suffer through a beating on the road..

That, and whether the officials could break a record — or a whistle — with all the foul calls. Before all was said and done Vanderbilt would attempt 43 free throws, hitting 37, and a raucous student section would break out the following chants, “Lane Kiffin,” “Tyler Smith,” “JP Prince sucks,” “JP Princess,” and others.

As Vandy raced to a 27-point second-half lead on the way to a 90-71 victory, the top two spots of the SEC East looked set. Absent a huge upset in Lexington Saturday, Vandy and Kentucky will be dueling for the top spot in the SEC down the final seven games of the basketball season.

Dive in for observations from a night in snowy Nashville that left two Top 25 SEC teams standing at identical 18-5 overall records.

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