KNOXVILLE – Jordan Bone knew the shot was good the second it left his hand.
Still, he waited until the ball went through the net before he turned and stared at the approving orange-clad fans in Thompson-Boling Arena.
“I could have did the Curry,” the Tennessee junior said later, referring to Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry’s celebration move of turning away with the ball still in the air. “I knew it was going in. It felt good.”
Led by their 6-foot-3 point guard, the seventh-ranked Volunteers are suddenly right back in the national conversation – and in a big way.
Bone scored a career-high 27 points and controlled both ends of the floor to lead Tennessee to a dominant 71-52 win over No. 4 Kentucky in front of a sellout crowd of 21,729 on Saturday afternoon. It was a 36-point turnaround from the rivals’ first meeting of the season, won 86-69 by Kentucky on Feb. 16 in Lexington.