Josiah-Jordan James and his teammates were sick leaving Rupp Arena back on Jan. 15.

Not in an ill way, but full of disappointment and disgust following an embarrassing 107-79 loss to rival Kentucky. The loss dropped Tennessee to 2-3 in SEC play and led to many questioning the team’s leadership following a string of embarrassing losses.

Now, a month later to the day, with the Vols having won seven of their last eight and seven straight SEC games, No. 4 Kentucky travels to Knoxville for a rematch with the 16th-ranked Vols.

“We’re a different team in terms of our leadership,” Rick Barnes told the media Monday. “It's been fun watching our guys the past few weeks — watching them talk to each other, coach each other, and accept each other's coaching has been good for us. We've talked about that for a long time and it's neat watching that part of our program development."

How did Tennessee get its leadership turned around midway through a season? Simply by drawing a line in the sand and beginning to hold one another accountable.

“Coach (Michael) Schwartz always says draw the line in the sand,” James said. “We got tired. We started off SEC 2-3 and we didn’t want another mediocre season. At the beginning of the year we wanted to win an SEC title and the fate is still in our hands to do that. Our goals are still set on that.

“Just holding ourselves to the standard we set before things got tough and adversity hit was really big for us. We just drew the line in the sand and said ‘no more.’”

Tennessee has beaten Vanderbilt twice, then-ranked No. 13 LSU, Florida, Texas A&M, South Carolina and Vanderbilt since its loss to Kentucky. The Vols’ lone loss came on the road at Texas at the buzzer, 52-51.

“Santi (Vescovi) and Josiah (James) and certainly, Uros (Plavsic) and Olivier (Nkamhoua), they were all trending that way,” Barnes said when asked who has stepped up as leaders since their trip to Lexington. “I think overall it's been a group effort, but certainly, Josiah and Santi.

“We have so many more guys that are locked in on the defensive end with our game plan. Leadership, concentration, whatever you want to call it, but when they are able to coach and talk about themselves and coach themselves, that's when you have a chance to be a good basketball team."

Tennessee has certainly been a good basketball team since that season-changing loss. The Vols seemed destined for another early exit in March, but with their turnaround, they’ve reenergized and pumped belief back into the fanbase.

But this week, they’ll truly be put to the test.

Are the Vols contenders once again or are they pretenders like we all thought they were back on that cold Saturday afternoon in Lexington? We’ll find out over the next five days.

"This is a really big week,” James said. “The next game against Kentucky is the biggest game of our season and then looking forward against Arkansas this weekend, it will be another really big test. Us three, us, Arkansas, and Kentucky, are really fighting for that second-place spot right now, so we will see who comes out on top in the end."

Tennessee will travel to No. 23 Arkansas on Saturday afternoon for a 4 p.m. tip.

The week starts, however, with a top five Kentucky team on Tuesday night inside of Thompson-Boling Arena that is placing as good as anybody in the country.

“(This game) is huge for both programs,” James said. “This one is especially special just because of the rivalry and history that we have between these two programs. It is always good when we get to meet up either here at Thompson-Boling or at Rupp Arena, it's always special."

The 234th meeting between the Vols and Cats is scheduled to tip at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN.