Now comes truth or consequences, not the old TV show or the little town in New Mexico, a reality check for Rick Barnes’ Volunteers.

The disaster at Florida striped away their No. 1 rating and stopped tall talk about Final Four and a national championship. The coach said it was not the end, just a very bad game. I said hummm and horrendous.

Tennessee had to knock Longhorns out of the way to take a tough Texas step toward redemption.

Much-improved Georgia comes to Food City Center on Wednesday (8 o’clock, SEC Network). The Bulldogs have credentials. They defeated Kentucky by 13 and Oklahoma by 10. Get ready for a rumble.

The Vols will be at Vanderbilt on Saturday. The Commodores (13-3) have been something of a surprise. They have two big guys to jam up the middle but Tennessee has a better team.

After that are also surprising Mississippi State (14-2), Auburn and Kentucky. That will be a time for official reevaluation. If SEC player of the year Johni Broome recovers from an ankle injury, Tennessee at Auburn will be a main event. If Broome is sidelined long term, all bets are off. He’s that strong.

Truth or consequences? We’ll soon see who the Volunteers really are, one of the best teams in the country or just good. At least half of America never believed No. 1, no matter what the sacred polls of coaches and Associated Press members said. A third of the doubters sent e-mails. I said thanks for the guidance.

We’ll soon see whether Chaz Lanier and Igor Milicic can relocate their shooting touch, whether Darlinstone Dubar will get more minutes, whether Tennessee can run its offense against 5-on-4. Teams dropping off Jahmai Mashack and cluttering up passing lanes have become a pain.

Lanier is a special question. He has sharply different accuracy numbers at home and away.

Truth or consequences? The Vols will come on strong during this stretch or face a serious decline in Southeastern Conference reputation. Stay tuned.

Tennessee-Texas review: Nothing came easy for the Vols in Austin. The game was close all the way. Tennessee never had a semi-comfortable lead until the closing seconds but the Vols were some better in the late minutes.

From the start, turnovers threatened to overturn a good effort. Tennessee lost the ball 10 times in the first 14 minutes and somehow led at intermission, 33-31.

The Vols had more turnovers early in the second half. Texas edged ahead and stayed there for more than 10 minutes. The big gap was just 54-49. The visitors stopped throwing away the ball. They clamped down on star Longhorn freshman Tre Johnson. He went more than six minutes without attempting a shot.

Dubar made a big difference in the closing push. What brought that on?

“You just got to stick with it, keep the main thing the main thing. Chop wood, carry water. Every day is the same. Highs and lows. Just got to keep going, keep playing hard and believing in yourself.”

Darlinstone sounds exactly like a future coach.

Texas committed only five turnovers. A 15-5 difference might decide most games. Tennessee compensated with a big edge in rebounds and better three-point shooting.

“Difference in the game really came down to second-chance opportunities,” said Texas coach Rodney Terry, a former assistant for Barnes. “They had a little bit more physicality than us on the glass, especially at winning time.”

Georgia preview: Freshman forward Asa Newell and graduate guard Dakota Leffew had 15 points each in the Saturday victory over Oklahoma. Guard Silas Demary made eight free throws and one field goal.

UGA freshman center Somto Cyril was again a force in the paint. For the fourth time, he had four blocked shots. He is 6-11 and 260, a star-to-be from Enugu, Nigeria.

Other Bulldogs played defense, too. Oklahoma had its lowest point total, lowest field goal percentage and lowest three-point percentage of the season.

Reminder: Knoxville’s Blue Cain, 6-5, is a Georgia starting guard. He played 85 games in three prep seasons at Catholic High and finished at IMG Academy in Florida.

Blue comes from an athletic family. His mother, Myriah, is in the George Washington U. hall of fame for basketball. His dad, Chris, played golf at Duke. His sister, Sophie, is a volleyball setter at Appalachian State.

Reminder 2: No telling how many Whites, members of the famous first family of college athletics, will be at the Wednesday game.

Michael Emerson White is coach of the Bulldogs. His famous brother, Dr. Danny, is vice chancellor and director of athletics at Tennessee. Another brother, Brian, is athletic director for Florida Atlantic. A sister, Mariah Chappell, is assistant AD at SMU.

Their father, Kevin, is retired after an intriguing career as athletic director at Loras College, Maine, Tulane, Arizona State, Notre Dame and Duke.

Really good Food City Center seats are available for special guests.

Marvin West welcomes comments or questions from readers. His address is marvinwest75@gmail.com