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Tennessee basketball: How have Vols previously fared after beating No. 1 teams?

By Caleb Calhoun

PHOENIX, ARIZONA - DECEMBER 09: Admiral Schofield #5 and Grant Williams #2 of the Tennessee Volunteers celebrate on the court after defeating the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the game at Talking Stick Resort Arena on December 9, 2018 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Volunteers defeated the Bulldogs 76-73. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
PHOENIX, ARIZONA - DECEMBER 09: Admiral Schofield #5 and Grant Williams #2 of the Tennessee Volunteers celebrate on the court after defeating the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the game at Talking Stick Resort Arena on December 9, 2018 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Volunteers defeated the Bulldogs 76-73. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /
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Photo by John Sommers II/Getty Images
Photo by John Sommers II/Getty Images /

1. 1966-1967: Tennessee defeats No. 1 Kentucky 

Date of the game: Saturday, March 5, 1966

Vols record after the win: 18-8

Next game’s result: None

End result of the season: Vols final game, finishing 18-8, 10-8 in SEC with no postseason

This was the last game of the season for Tennessee basketball. At the time, Ray Mears was in his fourth year. The Vols had made it to 17-8 overall and 9-8 in the SEC, and they would close out the year against the top ranked Kentucky Wildcats.

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Adolph Rupp’s team was 23-0 and had just beaten the Vols by 14 in their own gym. There was no way they were going to lose in Knoxville, right? Wrong! Perhaps they were already thinking about the NCAA Tournament knowing they had just clinched the SEC Championship anyway. But the Vols pulled off an amazing 69-62 upset, their first win ever over a No. 1 ranked team.

The win did nothing within the scope of that specific season. But it was huge for the program going forward. Kentucky would reach the national title game that year and lose in that historic match-up against Texas Western, the first team to win with an all-black starting five.

Right after that season, Mears was able to prove what he was building in Knoxville. So while it had no subsequent impact on 1965-1966, it had a subsequent impact on the program. And the very next year, Tennessee basketball won the SEC Championship to make the NCAA Tournament and finish the year in the Top 10.

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That doesn’t happen without this program-defining win to close out the previous season. So while we can’t point to what they did on the year following this win, we can point to what the program did in the future. And that’s far more significant.

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