Bodog Beat

The Vols' Chris Lofton goes up for two against Derrick Jasper. (AP Images)

The Tennessee Volunteers entered Sunday’s game against Kentucky knowing they would lose their No. 1 spot in the college basketball polls. The deflating news seemed to weigh on the Vols, who barely held off unranked Wildcats, 63-60, in Knoxville, Tenn.

Chris Lofton hit a key jumper with 1:15 to play and Tyler Smith finished with a team-high 15 points as Tennessee maintained its lead atop the SEC. But the Volunteers didn’t come close to covering the point spread, which favored them by 14.

They trailed midway through the second half despite leading 34-27 at the intermission. Tennessee took the lead for good on a dunk by Ramar Smith with 4:24 to play then relied on their defense to deny Kentucky a tying three-pointer.

Lofton finished with 14 points for the Vols, who lost to Vanderbilt earlier in the week. That defeat all but assured they would lose their No. 1 ranking when next week's poll comes out.

In other top 25 action on Sunday:

No. 19 Michigan State 103, No. 12 Indiana 74: The Spartans hit an incredible 78 percent of their field-goal attempts in the first half as they destroyed their Big Ten rival in East Lansing, Mich. Raymar Morgan scored 20 points for Michigan State, which was favored by five points. The loss was the first for Hoosiers interim coach Dan Dakich, who replaced Kelvin Sampson in February.

No. 17 Notre Dame 98, DePaul 91: Visiting Notre Dame got 24 points from Luke Harangody en route to clinching a first-round bye in this week’s Big East tournament. The Fighting Irish managed to cover the point spread, which favored them by 5.5 on the road.

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