Bone leads Tennessee past Arkansas 84-66

Admiral Schofield insists Tennessee’s play in the Southeastern Conference Tournament isn’t about validating the school’s remarkable and surprising regular season.

Rather, trying to win the Volunteers’ first tournament championship in almost 40 years is always where the Tennessee junior expected to be — even when the Rocky Top faithful were disappointed by a preseason pick of 13th in the SEC.

Tennessee will have that chance at its first conference tournament title since 1979, courtesy of an 84-66 win over Arkansas in the semifinals on Saturday. The No. 13 Volunteers (25-7) showed off for all the SEC to see against the sixth-seeded Razorbacks, putting on a shooting exhibition in the first half and setting up a third meeting this season with Kentucky.

“We just have a standard we’re trying to play toward,” Schofield said. “The biggest thing is we try to go out to every game with that mindset, like we’re trying to perfect our standard. We haven’t done that yet, so we’re still a hungry team. We still want more.”

Tennessee shared the SEC’s regular-season title with No. 16 Auburn, doing so after being picked to finish next to last in the league during the preseason. The Volunteers won their opening tournament game over Mississippi State, and they continued their recent hot streak against sixth-seeded Arkansas (23-11) — winning their sixth straight and for the 13th time in their last 15 games.