Tennessee, after several close calls this season, finally got over the hump against a top-10 team, taking down Kentucky 82-80 in a fantastic game for the Vols. Here are four quick takes on the team’s biggest win of the season.

1 — Play with poise — When you’re the underdog with a chance to make a huge statement against a top-five team, sometimes emotions can get the best of you. That wasn’t the case for Tennessee.

The Vols were gritty, poised and determined out of the gate. No better example of that poise existed in the first half than Tennessee’s ball-security against a Kentucky team that thrives on turnovers.

Tennessee had just three turnovers in the first 20 minutes of play, setting the tone for the rest of the night. That kept the ‘Cats from getting easy buckets and made them grind it out in the half-court. Tennessee finished the game with just nine turnovers.

The Vols didn’t slow the pace down, hardly, but they prevented Kentucky from turning things into a track meet and the visitors simply didn’t execute consistently in the half court. Kentucky shot 34% in the first half and never got out and put together a run that forced Tennessee to play from behind.

Tennessee’s poise and discipline was also evident in its shot selection. Rick Barnes has been hyper-critical of his team on this topic at times this season, most recently after last week’s loss at Ole Miss.

With few exceptions the Vols were patient on offense that was especially true in their use of the three ball. Tennessee finished a cooly efficient 5-of-10 behind the line while the ‘Cats struggled to a brutal 6-of-24 effort from long range.

Tennessee stuck to its defensive game plan and made things tough for the SEC’s leading scorer Malik Monk all night long. Monk got his points, finishing with 25 but he was 7-of-19 from the field and never got in the kind of groove that allowed him to dominate the game.

2 — Compete, hit the boards!! — Without question one of the biggest questions in this one was going to be whether or not Tennessee could hang with Kentucky on the glass.

Despite being undersized all over the place, the Vols pulled it off for much of the game and it was the result of a collective effort. Tennessee owned a 23-22 edge on the glass at the half and 6-foot-3 guard Lamonte Turner collected six of those rebounds.

Barnes is always on his guards to do their part on the glass and tonight Turner was the guy that heeded the call.

Tennessee had four players with at least five rebounds; Turner (7), Hubbs (7), Schofield (7) and Grant Williams (6).

Kentucky came into this game with a healthy +5.8 rebounding margin against the opposition but Tennessee battled them to a near stalemate tonight with the ‘Cats finishing with a narrow 40-39 rebounding edge.

The Vols, largely behind Hubbs (see below) along with Grant Williams (13 points) and Admiral Schofield (15) outscored Kentucky 42-28 in the paint. Something I certainly wouldn't have wagered on prior to this one.

3— Robert Hubbs shows up, especially early — The first half performance from Hubbs tonight was as good as he’s ever looked in a Tennessee uniform.

Hubbs completely carried Tennessee in that first half, scoring 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting while going 5-of-6 at the free throw line. That was crucial as the Vols didn’t have a whole lot of reliable offense outside of him in the first 20 minutes.

Hubbs slowed down some in the second half as Kentucky really focused on making it more difficult for him to get the ball in scoring position.

He managed to make just one shot and add just three points to his total over the first 15 minutes of play in the second half, then came up huge in final, pivotal moments.

Hubbs scored six points on three huge shots in the game’s final 4:05, none bigger than the short turnaround he made off an inbounds play with 1:08 left in the game and just :08 left on the shot clock and the Vols clinging to a 75-72 lead. That was perhaps the biggest shot of his career.

Hubbs finished the game with 25 points, but the most impressive part of his night was how he carried his team early and then showed up late to seal the deal.

For a young man who has taken some heat for not living up to the hype, this is a nice moment in the sun.

4 — Get over the hump — Tennessee has played a hellacious schedule and the Vols have had some chances to collect some impressive scalps on a couple of different occasions this season but just haven’t been able to close the deal.

Tonight the Vols refused to wilt, even when it looked like they might be on the cusp of doing so.

Kentucky whittled an 11 point lead all the way down to 68-66 with 3:24 left in the game and it looked like the Vols were a team that had run out of gas.

It didn’t happen though. The Vols stopped the ‘Cats run, found themselves some timely offense and closed this game out with some real flair.

Grant Williams made an enormous bucket in the closing minutes to keep it a two possession game and then Lamonte Turner made two huge free throws with 5.8 left in the game to keep Tennessee up 82-77 and essentially lock down this team’s biggest win of the season.

The final minutes of the game were obviously crucial, but so were the opening moments of the second half. After taking a 39-34 lead into the locker you just knew Kentucky was going to make a run.

That run eventually happened, but it wasn’t coming out of the locker room as Tennessee not only held its ground, they expanded their lead until it hit 11 points with 12:49 left in the half.

Then when that run from the ‘Cats came, Tennessee showed some real grit. They bent some, but they never surrendered the lead.