KNOXVILLE - At least one thing is clear regarding the Tennessee men's basketball team right now: It's best to expect the unexpected.
The Volunteers have been unpredictable from game to game in coach Rick Barnes' fifth season in Knoxville, and they packed that inconsistency into one contest Saturday yet held on to beat Florida 63-58 in front of 19,743 at Thompson-Boling Arena.
The Vols (16-13, 8-8 Southeastern Conference) led by 19 points in the second half, but the Gators (18-11, 10-6) rallied to within 55-54 with 2:55 to play. It brought to mind the game one week earlier at Auburn, where the Vols blew a 17-point lead and lost by seven, but then Tennessee's most indispensable player made one of the biggest and most unlikely plays of his career.
Redshirt junior John Fulkerson made his first 3-pointer as a Vol with 2:24 remaining to beat the shot clock, then had a follow-up dunk with 46 seconds to play as Tennessee held on to win for just the fourth time in its past 11 games. Fulkerson's only other attempt behind the arc came in a home win against Arkansas on Feb. 11.
The Vols return to competition at 9 p.m. Tuesday at No. 8 Kentucky (24-5, 15-2), then close the regular season at home next Saturday with a noon game against No. 15 Auburn.
Fulkerson's 22 points topped the list of four scorers in double figures for Tennessee. Josiah-Jordan James got 10 of his 12 points in the first half, and he also had eight rebounds, six assists, two blocks and a steal. Santiago Vescovi added 11 points - his two free throws with 23 seconds to play sealed the win - and four assists, and Jordan Bowden had 10 points and five rebounds.
Bowden, James, Vescovi and Yves Pons - who had eight points and four rebounds - played all 20 minutes of the second half for Tennessee, which turned the ball over just nine times in the game.
"We've had so many things that have gone against us this year, and we told the team that as a coach you'd like to have a little more comfort at the end of the game, but the way we won the game was probably better for us because we've lost so many like that," said Barnes, who earned his 50th regular-season win at Tennessee. "At the end we brought up (past) games and told them, 'We've been here, we've done it. You guys are going to have to go win the game.'
"We got some stops and made some free throws. Santi's two at the end were big, they were really big."
Kerry Blackshear Jr., a graduate transfer from Virginia Tech whose list of possible destinations this offseason included Tennessee, led the Gators with 20 points and nine rebounds. Noah Locke added 15 points, and 6-foot-11, 300-pound freshman Jason Jitoboh, a former standout at Chattanooga's Hamilton Heights Christian Academy, had two points, five rebounds and a block.
SATURDAY'S STAR
Many are worthy, but James gets the nod because when he was at his best, so were the Vols. He's the one player on the team wh can take Tennessee to another level - the first half was evidence of that - and while he has had his struggles, he has a skill set that has to be honored when he's on the court and playing well.
STANDOUT STAT
Fulkerson's 3 was huge for so many reasons, none bigger than the fact that it was a contested attempt with the shot clock winding down and the Gators within a point. He may never make another 3 for Tennessee, but the one he has hit was big for the Vols.
TURNING POINT
Fulkerson's final basket, a putback dunk of Bowden's missed layup, smothered the Gators' last bit of momentum. The Vols had been faltering down the stretch, and although Fulkerson's 3 was huge, his dunk did more to put the game away.
WHAT IT MEANS
You can't enter any game with this Tennessee team believing you know what's going to happen. After the disappointing loss at Auburn, followed by the Vols being run out of the gym by Arkansas, there was no reason to believe they would compete with the Gators, who were 6-2 in February entering Saturday. But big plays by everybody on the court gave the Vols a chance, guaranteeing a winning record for the third consecutive season.
QUOTABLE
Fulkerson on his 3: "I really want to say I should shoot 3s more often. I really do, and I really want Coach to hear it. I've only shot two in my career, and I knew the shot clock was running down, so I set my feet and put it up there. It felt really good coming off my hands, but it was a really big shot. I was talking to Kerry Blackshear after that play and told him, 'That was God right there,' and he said, 'Good shot."
James on duplicating Saturday's personal success: "To do that I just have to play harder. Coach has been on me the past couple of games, the last couple of weeks about playing harder every possession and good things will happen, and that's what happened today. Just stick to the game plan, the routine. I know I had a couple of bad games, couple of bad stretches, but just stick to what I do outside of the game - working out, staying in the gym, staying consistent in my craft - and just working hard outside of the practices."
James on handling his struggles: "It's tough, but I had my teammates there. I had my roommates (fellow Vols Davonte Gaines and Drew Pember) and the coaches. They're always giving me confidence in practice, during workouts, things like that. Before today, (assistant) coach (Kim) English told me, 'You deserve to have a good game.' He'd seen the preparation I've been coming with, the work ethic I've had. He told me tough times don't last, tough people do, and I just kept that in the back of my mind, and I just came out today fighting for my teammates because I knew today was a big game and I knew we needed to win."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.