The last time the Cats ran into Tennessee’s porous defense, the outcome was historic.

More specifically, Jodie Meeks ran into — and exposed — the Vols’ perimeter defense, Tennessee head coach Bruce Pearl said. Meeks scored a UK school-record 54 points and led the Cats to a 90-72 win on Jan. 13.

Until that night, Meeks had never even scored 54 points on the court in a video game.

On Saturday, the Southeastern Conference rivals will match up for the second time this season. This time around, the gaping hole may be closed on Tennessee’s end and exposed for the Cats.

Sophomore Patrick Patterson is still listed as day-to-day, but he went through a full practice on Thursday. During an SEC coaches teleconference before practice Thursday, UK head coach Billy Gillispie was still uncertain about Patterson’s availability for Saturday’s game.

In the same teleconference, Vols head coach Bruce Pearl expressed how much of a role Patterson played in Meeks’ 54-point night.

“We anticipate Patterson coming back and playing, which gives them that inside-out threat, which makes them both more effective,” Pearl said. “Without Patterson in there, they don’t have as much of a post threat. It takes more than one guy to cover Patterson, and it takes a whole team to cover Meeks.”

Pearl confirmed his statement on what it takes to cover the SEC’s leading scorer. In preparation for Saturday’s game, Pearl reviewed film of the Jan. 13 game and said seven different Vols tried — and failed — to stop Meeks.

Although Meeks ran wild last time, Gillispie said the Vols’ defense, especially where Meeks burnt them the most, has made steps in the right direction.

Tennessee’s perimeter defense has surrendered 69-of-224 3-pointers in 11 SEC games. If Meeks’ 10-of-15 performance in Thompson-Boling Arena could be stricken from the record, the Vols would own the top 3-point defense percentage in league play.

“They’ve totally changed in my opinion,” Gillispie said. “I don’t think too many teams have a capability to change like they have. I don’t know if it was after our game but from then until now, they’re a totally different team. Their perimeter defense has really improved.”

Even though Gillispie noted Tennessee’s transformation, he said the Vols’ goal wouldn’t be any different than it was in January: to win the game. The Cats and Vols are two of four teams deadlocked atop the SEC East. UK and Tennessee have games remaining with the other two teams, Florida and South Carolina, in the tie.

But Gillispie said his team is not concerned about the logjam, noting the Cats “can only win one game or lose one game on a particular day.” He still admitted the first-place tie will be a good storyline for the nationally televised matchup.

The biggest storyline, though, is how Pearl and Co. will try to contain Meeks. Gillispie said Pearl does “a great job of designing gameplans to shut guys down.”

To shut Meeks down, Pearl will have to learn from a video game.

“A bunch of teammates always play video games — NBA Live, NBA 2K9,” Patterson said in the post-game news conference on Jan. 13. “Even with the teams that Jodie picks, he never scores 54.”