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UT Men's basketball head coach, Bruce Pearl, talks about players Scotty Hopson, Bobby Maze and Josh Tabb. Watch »
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In one breath, Tennessee men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl said junior Josh Tabb "did really well" at point guard last Friday night.
In the next, Pearl tells a story about a Tabb turnover in the 76-66 win over Middle Tennessee State.
"On one (turnover) he about killed some child in the crowd with the ball he threw out of bounds,'' Pearl said. "It took out the third row.''
Tabb is playing point guard for the first time in three years, when he was at Cincinnati's Harmony Community Prep School.
Junior college All-American transfer Bobby Maze has done as well as Pearl expected as the starting point guard, averaging 9.3 points and 6.7 assists per game while committing just three turnovers this season.
But Maze can't play all of the minutes, and depth will factor in at the Old Spice Classic this week in Orlando, Fla. The 12th-ranked Vols open the tournament at noon Thursday (TV: ESPN2) against Siena, and will practice in Orlando today.
The Saints (2-0) feature the best backcourt in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and return all five starters from the team that eliminated Vanderbilt from the NCAA tournament last season.
Freshman Daniel West was originally slated to be the backup point guard for the Vols, but he was declared academically ineligible because of a validation issue with his standardized test score.
Pearl originally turned to junior wing J.P. Prince to take over the backup point guard duties. Prince played point guard for the Vols in the NCAA tournament last season and worked on it in the offseason.
But Pearl recently decided to allow Prince to focus on his duties at the wing, where he starts.
"There were a couple reasons, one, I felt J.P. plays so well with Bobby on the floor, and it gives me another breakdown guy, another cagey vet,'' Pearl said. "(Two), Josh running scout team for three weeks and running it well. And defensively he can help us a great deal.''
Tabb has spent his first two years coming off the bench as the Vols' defensive specialist, guarding the opposition's top perimeter player.
Tabb has five assists and two turnovers this season in the 30 minutes he has played in two games.
Prince, meanwhile, remains questionable for Thursday's game after turning his ankle against MTSU.
© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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