KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Vols survived their first game as the number one team in the country, beating Vanderbilt 88-83 in Nashville.
Grant Williams scored 43 points, Tennessee's first 40-point game since Allan Houston in 1990 and broke Bill Justus' school record for free throws made in a game with 23.
The Vols have only been ranked number one twice in school history. The first time was in 2008 and Tennessee lost its first game as number one on the road at Vanderbilt that year. It looked like history might repeat itself until Williams took over the game, scoring 33 of the Vols final 39 points in the last 14:09 of the second half and overtime.
Williams went 23-23 from the free throw line, breaking the SEC record for most free throws made in a game without a miss and falling one short of the NCAA record of 24.
Nashville native Jordan Bone was the only other Vol in double figures, scoring 14 points.
Tennessee started the game on fire and led 15-2 after the first five minutes after hitting five of its first seven shots.
Vanderbilt made 13 of its final 21 first-half shots to pull within one at halftime.
The Vols started the second half on a 4-0 run and pushed the lead to six but the Commodores buried four-of-five three-pointers to tie the game at 55.
Vanderbilt took the lead 59-57 with 8:37 left on a Matthew Moyer dunk over Kyle Alexander, despite having leading scorer Simisola Shittu on the bench with four fouls.
Vanderbilt led by 5 with 1:32 left but Clevon Brown was called for a flagrant foul while jumping against Grant Williams for a rebound. Williams hit both free throws then scored on a layup to pull the Vols within two.
Admiral Schofield tied the game up with a jumper with 38 seconds left, his first bucket since 9:49 of the first half and only his second of the game. Schofield shot 2-9 from the field.
Tennessee had the ball with 3.3 seconds left but Williams three-point attempt was blocked, sending the game into overtime, where Williams scored 10 points to help seal the win.