Georgia gave its NCAA Tournament profile a major boost Saturday, defeating Tennessee 69-63 in Knoxville for the Bulldogs’ first victory at Thompson-Boling Arena since 2001.

Georgia used a 9-2 run to turn a three-point deficit into a 54-50 lead with just inside of five minutes to play. Jeremy Price scored four points in the run and Trey Thompkins capped it with a layup.

The Bulldogs (18-8, 7-5) stayed in front from there, holding off Tennessee and sending the Vols to their sixth home loss of the season despite Scotty Hopson’s career-high 32 points.

Price led the Bulldogs with 20 points, capped by a late slam dunk to ice the win. Travis Leslie scored 15 points, Dustin Ware had 12 and Thompkins added 11 to go with nine rebounds and six steals.

Free throws loomed large. Georgia made 17 of 24, while the Vols were 9 of 15 in losing for the fourth time in five games.

Aside from Hopson and 18 points from Tobias Harris, the rest of the Vols scored 13 points on 6-of-24 shooting from the field.

Tennessee (16-11, 6-6 SEC) fell behind 22-7 in the first 10 minutes, clawed all the way back and held a 48-45 edge with 9:13 to go.