Vols get a taste of Big Apple on Thanksgiving

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Tyler Smith dunks against MTSU during the second half of the game. Tennessee beats Middle Tennessee State University 109-40 at Thompson-Boling Arena.

The Tennessee men's basketball team will have a Thanksgiving Day stuffed with activities.

Coach Bruce Pearl said the No. 7-ranked Vols will bus into New York City today to visit Rockefeller Center, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

Oh yes, and then they will practice from 2-4 p.m. at St. Peter's College on the New Jersey side of the river in preparation for Friday's game (TV: VERSUS, 9 p.m.) against West Virginia (2-0).

"It's some walking,'' Pearl said, "but it's a 9 o'clock tip the next night, so I feel like they can handle it.''

The game with the Mountaineers is the first of two at Newark's new Prudential Center, where the final rounds of the Legends Classic tournament is taking place.

Texas and New Mexico State also play Friday night, and the winner of that game plays the winner of UT's game at 7 p.m. Saturday. The losers of the Friday night games meet in a consolation contest at 4:30 p.m. Saturday.

UT's players watched film with the coaching staff before a weather delay pushed back their flight to Newark, N.J., on Wednesday night.

"Having practiced on Sunday and Monday and then playing Tuesday,'' Pearl said, "I felt we needed the day off physically.''

The Vols will have the same starting lineup they used in Tuesday night's 109-40 win over Middle Tennessee State when they face the Mountaineers. Senior Jordan Howell remains the starter at point guard over sophomore Ramar Smith coming off the bench, Pearl said.

"We got off to a pretty good start against Middle (Tennessee),'' Pearl said, "So I see no reason to change it at this point.''

Freshman center Brian Williams, who sat out Tuesday night's game, remains questionable for Friday's game after suffering a hip pointer in Sunday's practice.

Pearl said he's confident sophomore Duke Crews can handle whatever minutes get thrown his way after Crews' performance against the Blue Raiders.

"Duke did a tremendous job,'' Pearl said. "It's a credit to him and our strength coach, Troy Willis. You could see Duke didn't show any signs of the layoff (30-day suspension) or the ankle injury that had slowed him down.''

Crews had nine points on 3-of-4 shooting and pulled down three rebounds in 22 minutes. Starting center Wayne Chism had five points on 2-of-6 shooting and two rebounds in 13 minutes after running into foul trouble.

Busy Bruce: Pearl taped a segment for the Dennis Miller show last week that aired Tuesday night.

"They had a satellite truck, and I did it from the arena like it was live,'' Pearl said. "It was pretty cool.''

Pearl was indeed live when he spoke before some 4,000 members of the United Jewish Community on Sunday in Nashville.

Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen introduced Pearl.

High Praise: The Vols' schedule was rated as the second-most difficult among the top 20 teams in the Sports Illustrated preseason rankings.

The magazine's college basketball preview, which features Chris Lofton on one of its five regional covers, selected UT as the No. 3 team to start the season.

Senior JaJuan Smith is featured in a picture in the front of the magazine diving for a loose ball against Temple last week.