John Clay's Sidelines

Scotty Hopson

With Kansas losing to a short-handed but highly-motivated Tennessee, 76-68, at Thompson-Boling today, will Kentucky move from No. 3 to No. 2 in Monday’s AP poll? Texas will surely take over the top spot. Kentucky is the nation’s only other unbeaten team. And even though Kansas did lose on the road, the Jayhawks were playing a Tennessee team deep in turmoil, especially after senior star Tyler Smith was booted from the team this week.

Give Bruce Pearl his props. The man can motivate. The Vols got great contributions from walk-on Skyle Skylar McBee and Southern Illinois transfer Josh Bone. McBee hit the shot of the game, throwing in a three-pointer with the shot clock at one second, giving Tennessee a 74-68 lead with 33 seconds left.

Meanwhile, Scotty Hopson was much more aggressive. The Hopkinsville native ended up with 17 points. He scored on several drives to the basket, including a jam off a drive down the right baseline. That helped Tennessee shoot 48.1 percent, while holding the top-ranked team to 37.7 from the floor.

Here’s some instant analysis from espn.com’s Brian Bennett. And here’s Mike Griffith’s liveblog in the Knoxville News-Sentinel.