It was never comfortable, but Tennessee did have control of Wednesday night’s game against Vanderbilt down the stretch.
Until they didn’t.
Up two points with 18 seconds left, Julian Phillips had a clear look at a dunk that would have made it a two possession game, but he turned it down in an attempt to run clock. Vanderbilt proceeded to foul five times, finally sending Santiago Vescovi to the line. Vescovi missed the front end of a one and one, and Vanderbilt’s Tyrin Lawrence nailed a three from the corner to win it.
It was a disastrous final sequence that ended up handing Tennessee their third loss in SEC play — their second in the last three games.