No. 12 Vols travel to take on rival Vanderbilt
sports@thedailytimes.comOriginally published: February 09. 2010 3:01AM
Last modified: February 08. 2010 8:17PM
The No. 12 Tennessee Volunteers, having secured three straight Southeastern Conference victories, will try to turn the tables on No. 22 Vanderbilt tonight, 7 o’clock tip, at Memorial Gymnasium.
The Vols (18-4, 6-2 SEC) are coming off victories over Florida and LSU on the road and South Carolina at home and are tied for second in the East with the Commodores (17-5, 6-2).
Vanderbilt came to Knoxville last month and stunned UT, 85-76. The Commodores have since fallen at Kentucky and at Georgia but will be defending a perfect 11-0 record at home.
This time around, the Vols will attempt to do a better job containing Vandy’s Jermaine Beale, who scored 25 points in Thompson-Boling Arena. In addition, UT’s Wayne Chism, who scored a career high 30 points against South Carolina will need another big game to counter the inside presence of the Commodores’ A. J. Ogilvy.
Vanderbilt, which started the SEC season with five straight wins before running into a meat grinder at Kentucky, barely got by Mississippi State at home a week ago and fell to the spoiler Bulldogs in Athens.
Commodore coach Kevin Stallings watched his team take a healthy lead against Georgia and then collapse defensively in the second half. A loss to the Vols would push Vandy into the middle of the pack in the SEC East.
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