Tennessee moves atop SEC East standings

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. — Tennessee beat the nation’s second-best team, rejoined the rankings and moved atop the Southeastern Conference East division standings all in one week.

The first season under new coach Bruce Pearl keeps getting better.

The No. 19 Volunteers (13-3, 4-1) won 88-65 at Mississippi State on Wednesday to move ahead of Florida, which lost at South Carolina. Florida, Vanderbilt and Kentucky are tied at 3-2.

Tennessee hasn’t won at least a share of the East title since back-to-back crowns under Jerry Green in 1999 and 2000.

“Certainly we’re happy to be in this position. It’s not where you start, it’s where you finish,” Pearl said Thursday.

“I don’t think we’ve done anything yet where our players will be at all affected by our success. I don’t think we’ll change. We’ll continue to do what we’ve been doing and hopefully that’s good enough to continue to be successful and try to improve.”

The Vols have already beaten two top 10 teams — then-No. 6 Texas on Dec. 17 and No. 2 Florida last weekend, which moved them back in the top 25 this week. They were ranked after beating Texas but lost the next game to Oklahoma State and dropped out.

Tennessee hosts South Carolina on Saturday. The Vols opened the SEC slate with a win at Columbia earlier this month.

“In Knoxville, we’re probably playing one of the — jeepers I don’t know how to put a number on it — probably top 10, top 5 hottest, most consistent teams in the country,” South Carolina coach Dave Odom said.

“They’re doing things the right way, and as a result their team is right at the top of the heap in college basketball right now. Everybody is talking about them.”

Winning on the road has made a big difference. Tennessee finished 2-6 in conference road games last year. So far the Vols have won at Mississippi State and South Carolina with the lone loss at LSU, which is first in the SEC West.

Tennessee never trailed at Mississippi State under a different starting lineup. Andre Patterson started in place of Stanley Asumnu.

Patterson had 13 points and 11 rebounds, and Asumnu scored 12 points.

Forward Dane Bradshaw did not practice prior to the game because of a sprained wrist but played and had seven points and seven rebounds.

Pearl said Bradshaw would be limited in practice on Thursday.