W hen Bruce Pearl was fired at Tennessee in March 2011 and subsequently hit with a three-year show-cause penalty by the NCAA, there was no guarantee he'd ever coach at the high-ma

Tennessee (14-1, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) missed its first nine shots, trailed by double digits a few minutes later and never recovered. The Volunteers got bullied in the paint, outmuscled on the boards and beaten up and down the court.

Tennessee basketball is No.1 no more. The Florida Gators greeted the Volunteers with a harsh welcome on Tuesday night, obliterating Rick Barnes’ squad, 73-43, in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. It was a brutal beatdown that puts the program in the kind of ratified air no one wants to breathe.