MEMPHIS, Tenn. — No. 1 no more.
And the perfect season is gone, too.
Tyler Smith hit a turnaround jumper in the lane with 26.5 seconds left and the No. 2 Tennessee Volunteers knocked off the nation’s last unbeaten team, edging top-ranked Memphis 66-62 on Saturday night.
“I really don’t even remember,” Smith said. “I just remember the shot going in.”
Tennessee (25-2) won on a night when star guard Chris Lofton scored only seven points, beating the Tigers with a dominating performance on the boards. Lofton did finish it off, though, hitting a couple of free throws with 4.5 seconds to go after Memphis intentionally missed at the line.
Memphis (26-1) lost at home for the first time since Jan. 2, 2006, ending the nation’s longest home winning streak at 47 games.
“We’ve just got to learn from it. We lost,” Memphis’ Robert Dozier said. “They just out-toughed us. They get every loose ball, every offensive rebound. They just outplayed us.”
Tennessee surely will be ranked No. 1 when the next poll comes out — for the first time in school history.
The Tigers were leading when J.P. Smith took a pass from Lofton, backed in and hit the jumper for a 62-61 advantage. Antonio Anderson missed badly for Memphis at the other end, and the Tigers were forced to foul.
