NASHVILLE, Tenn. — In the four games prior to Tennessee's SEC semifinal win over Kentucky, Lamonte Turner was 1-for-16 on three-point shots.
Then he missed three more.
But when the ball came to him with 30 seconds left and the Vols down by two, he still had the confidence to let it fly from deep.
"When it gets down to those moments like that, I don't think. I just let it go," Turner said.
He trusted himself and the work he's put in. And his teammates trusted him.
"There's no doubt in our mind, we knew it was going in," two-time SEC Player of the Year Grant Williams said. "We had a poll in here (the locker room), anybody who at the end of game wants Lamonte Turner to take that shot, raise your hand. We all raised our hands because we have that much faith in him no matter if he's 0-for-12 in the game or making every single one of them."
Turner finished the game with seven points on 3-9 shooting, 1-4 from three. He hit the one that mattered.
"You know how many game winners I've hit against Kentucky in my head? I've done it a million times," Turner said. "To do it now, it feels good. It's something you dream about as a kid."
Turner has already beaten Kentucky with a late three once before in his career. Last season he drained a three with 27 seconds left to give Tennessee a two-point lead en route to the program's first win at Rupp Arena in 12 years.