LEXINGTON - "That's what makes you the most proud these guys have figured it out," Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie said Tuesday night after his Wildcats stunned the third-ranked Tennessee Volunteers, 72-66, before a raucous crowd at Rupp Arena.

"It's a 40-minute game," Gillispie added. "And they (Wildcats) are going to be as tough as anybody they might play against no matter what the situation might be. And they're going to battle to the end every single time. That's what makes you proud as a coach.

"This was a great win against a great team."

Actually, "great' hardly begins to describe what this could mean for Kentucky.

Less than two weeks ago the Wildcats were staring at what could have been the school's worst basketball season in, oh, maybe 100 years. Then came an overtime upset of then undefeated Vanderbilt on Jan. 12, then two, hard-fought road losses, at Mississippi State and Florida, and then this " easily the signature win of Gillispie's early tenure at UK and arguably the biggest Kentucky victory in five years.

The Wildcats improve to 8-9 overall and 2-2 in the SEC. Tennessee lost for just the second time, against 16 wins, and is 3-1 in the conference.

Suddenly a losing season seems far-fetched for these Wildcats, and some kind of postseason play appears likely. Kentucky should at least make the NIT, and maybe, just maybe, the Wildcats could play themselves back on to the NCAA Tournament bubble.

The rest of the Wildcats' SEC slate is manageable if they continue to play as they have the past two weeks. Wins at Vanderbilt on Feb. 12 and at Tennessee on March 2 are long shots. The other 10 SEC games can be had, starting this Saturday at home against South Carolina.

"I'm not into prognosticating, but I've been liking what I've been seeing for the last three or four weeks," Gillispie said. "And I think this team is going to continue to get better."

Kentucky won Tuesday even though three key players are all hurting. Senior swing man Joe Crawford has feet hurting so badly, Crawford took himself out of the game late against the Volunteers ("That's a sign of a guy who's really emerging as a leader and a team player, to make that sacrifice" Gillispie said of Crawford, who played great in 24 minutes of action against UT), Jodie Meeks is still working himself into shape after a hip injury, and ditto for Derrick Jasper after major knee surgery this summer.

The Wildcats managed to win this game because they are playing with the intensity on the boards and on defense that Gillispie has wanted all along.

"I thought our guys did their best job yet of playing to a scouting report and being in the right position for the most part," Gillispie said. "They (Vols) are so hard to guard. They are so athletic, they have so many weapons, they are well coached and they're just a great team. And as good a job as we did tonight defensively around the perimeter, the story of the game defensively was we did a fantastic job in the paint."

Kentucky blocked nine shots and held the Vols to just 38.6 percent shooting from the field. The Wildcats also out-rebounded Tennessee 36-27.

UT star Chris Lofton finished with 22 points, but six of those came in the last 12 seconds after the game was decided. Lofton did not do much in the second half after tossing in 11-first-half points, sparking Tennessee to a 36-30 halftime advantage.

More surprising, was that the Wildcat with a hand in Lofton's face most of this night was senior guard Ramel Bradley, a guy who has not been known as a defensive stopper.

Bradley also played a heady game on offense, finishing with 16 points, six rebounds and five assists. His scoring included 10 of 10 at the free throw line.

"We got a really smart game from Ramel," Gillispie said. "I don't know if he could have ever played a better game. He hasn't this year, and he's been playing really well lately. Tonight he was outstanding offensively, he was outstanding defensively, he was outstanding leadership wiseyou couldn't ask for more."

Freshman center Patrick Patterson was a man inside, leading Kentucky with 20 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots. But Patterson got a lot of help from emerging sophomore forward Perry Stevenson, who added 14 points, seven rebounds and five blocked shots.

"Patrick is a force," Gillispie said of Patterson. "He's a great teammate, he's wise beyond his years, and he's tough. He's not a perfect player, but he's so central to what we want to do offensively and defensively.''

"Patrick opens up so much for everybody else," Stevenson added. "Every time he touches the ball, most of the time it's a great possession. He's not a selfish person. If he doesn't have the shot, he's going to kick it back out, and most of the time it is to a wide open player."

The Wildcats also won because they were 24 of 28 at the free throw line, including 12 of 12 in the last 90 seconds when the game was decided.

But most of all, above all those numbers, the Wildcats won because they played with the passion Gillispie demands.

"I was very proud of the effort," Gillispie said. "The effort was fantastic for 40 minutes."

Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl echoed many of Gillispie comments on the keys to this one.

"Every team tries to find an identity," Pearl said. "So far this year our identity has been to play with passion and to have poise, and tonight I thought Kentucky was the more passionate team.

"Coach Gillispie has done a really good job getting down to it," Pearl added. "I think he has their roles defined, and I think getting Meeks and Jasper back are really big keys because they have two more good basketball players out there now."

"We did make a lot of mistakes, and we have a lot of improvement to make," Gillispie concluded. "But they are headed in the right direction."