Tennessee basketball: 10 memorable games between Vols and Memphis Tigers

5. 2008-2009: Memphis beats Tennessee 54-52 (Game played Jan. 24, 2009)

The final game of the Bruce Pearl-John Calipari rivalry when it was Tennessee vs. Memphis was an encore showing of the epic game the previous year. We’ll get to that later. In this one, though, both teams were a significant drop-off from what they had been.

However, they were still both sure bets to make the NCAA Tournament, and that made this game still one worth watching. After losing the first game in the series between the two coaches, Tennessee basketball had won the next two.

So the Tigers rolled into Thompson-Boling Arena hoping to end the drought. They were 15-3 at the time and in the Top 25, but even with a 12-5 record, the Vols were the favorite since they were playing the game at home and had won the last two.

The problem for Tennessee, though, was that they were in a transition year after having to replace Chris Lofton and Jauan Smith from the year before. In a brutal defensive struggle, Tyreke Evans provided the late-game heroics, scoring Memphis’s final seven points to win the game 54-52.

Memphis had a 53-52 lead with two and a half minutes to go, though, and they never let the Vols score again. So defense was the name of the game, and in a thriller, Calipari won his final game against Tennessee as Memphis’s head coach. Both teams would make the NCAA Tournament for a fourth straight year, with UT losing in the first round and the Tigers making the Sweet Sixteen.