KNOXVILLE – Maybe it was the sharp new uniforms and the stylish new shoes.
Or perhaps it was the small-ball starting lineup.
Whatever it was, it worked incredibly well for Tennessee’s basketball team.
The Volunteers earned first-year coach Rick Barnes his first Southeastern Conference win in impressive and emphatic fashion, blowing out Florida 83-69 Wednesday night to improve to 8-0 at Thompson-Boling Arena this season.
“It was a different feel coming into tonight,” Robert Hubbs III said after scoring 12 points in Tennessee’s largest win against Florida since a 104-82 triumph in 2008. “We knew something was up. We just went out there and played our best.”