The execution of a 44-year-old play filed away in the memory bank of Rick Barnes kept Tennessee atop the polls on Monday.

Even with Illinois in the final seconds after a foul-filled first and second half that left two of their best players on the bench for long stretches on Saturday, Barnes' gamble paid off when Jordan Gainey ran the length of the floor and laid in a shot at the buzzer to help the Vols remain unbeaten with a 66-64 road victory.

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The thrilling finish capped a successful first week for Tennessee as the No. 1 team in the Associated Press Top 25. The Vols beat Miami in Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden last Tuesday before walking off the Fighting Illini in their biggest test in non-conference play.

Tennessee (10-0) might have former DeMatha Catholic High School Morgan Wooten to thank for heading into its final stretch before opening its SEC schedule in three weeks unblemished.

That is who Barnes got the play from when he was an assistant coach at George Mason in 1980. It showed up in a D.C. area newsletter soon after. On Saturday night at State Farm Center, it showed up again.

"We didn’t have a big recruiting budget, so we decided we need to put out a monthly newsletter to all the coaches within a 250 mile radius and try to get George Mason on the map," Barnes said. "I worked with our SID, and we came up with a segment of it where we were going to call it ‘Coach’s Corner,’ where we want to ask different coaches around the D.C. area to put together their favorite play...That’s the play we ran today.

"That play has been around a long time, but Morgan (Wooten)--God, rest his soul--I mean, again, it was his play and the first one we put in that newsletter that year.”

MORE FROM VOLREPORT: Jordan Gainey proves to be Tennessee's hero in win over Illinois

It was fitting that Gainey was the one who ran it and then finished it off with the game-winning shot. With Zakai Zeigler out for much of the half with four fouls and leading-scorer Chaz Lanier fouled out for good in the final five minutes, Gainey was thrust into his biggest role since transferring to Tennessee from USC Upstate last season.

He scored 23 points--including 18 over the last 20 minutes--and showed the Vols that they can win in other ways.

That could be valuable for Tennessee once the calendar flips to January and they are playing a potential tournament team night in and night out. As of now, the Vols' schedule through 10 games pails in comparison to their SEC slate.

Tennessee, which plays Western Carolina (3-6) on Tuesday at Food City Center (7 p.m. ET, SEC Network+), is the top team in a league-heavy top 25.

Auburn was No. 2 in the latest poll, followed by No. 4 Kentucky, No. 6 Alabama, No. 7 Florida, No. 12 Texas A&M, No. 14 Oklahoma and No. 17 Ole Miss with Arkansas, Georgia and Texas receiving votes.

The Vols will play each of those teams at least once in the coming months once SEC play opens vs. Arkansas at home on Jan. 4.

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