Box Score

In a season as long as college basketball's, it's hard to call a December game a 'must-win,' but that may have not been an overstatement regarding Tennessee's match-up with No. 23 Wichita St. tonight. The Vols ground out a much-needed 69-60 win to end a two-game losing streak and inject some holiday cheer into their Christmas break.

On a night when the program honored former coach Ray Mears and Cuonzo Martin donned the 'Big Orange' Blazer, the Vols simply gutted one out.

Tennessee didn't hit a shot from the field in the final 5:56 of the game but came through in the clutch at the foul line and slapped some stifling defense on the visitors in the stretch to secure the win.

Tennessee's difficulties at the free throw line have been well documented to this point and they entered tonight's game hitting just 60.2% at the stripe. That flipped in a big way this evening though as the Vols hit 11-of-14 at the line in the final five minutes of play, scored their last 11 points of the game at the line and hit a total of 29-of-36 attempts (80.6%) on the evening.

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