NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Uros Plavsic's short jumper with 55 seconds left broke a tie at 60, and 24th-ranked Tennessee scored the final eight points holding off in-state rival Vanderbilt 68-60 Tuesday night for the Vols' ninth straight win in this series.
None of the Vols on the current roster have lost at Memorial Gym. Tennessee (12-5, 3-3 Southeastern Conference) wound up winning its 11th in 12 games with its sixth straight inside the SEC's oldest basketball gym.
Coach Rick Barnes called Plavsic's rebound and putback a "big-time play" with the game tied and said he was proud of how his Vols finished the game.
"They showed the grit that we needed," Barnes said. "It was a total team win, and I thought our defense was really good from start to finish against a team, they run terrific offense. They do a lot of really good things and the fact we were able to defend them."
Santiago Vescovi led Tennessee with 14 points. Plavsic and Kennedy Chandler each added 13. Zakai Seigler had 11. Plavsic said the Vols, routed last weekend on the road by Kentucky, just wanted to play hard.
"It's a big game for us, in-state rival," the 7-foot Serbian said. "You want to win all of those games."
Vanderbilt (10-7 2-3) has yet to win a SEC game at home despite being 2-0 on the road in league play. Coach Jerry Stackhouse now is 0-5 against Tennessee.
"We're disappointed obviously," Stackhouse said. "Thought we did some good things on the defensive end, just careless turnovers and second-chance points, things we talked about coming into this game."
