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• Smith sees adjustment period

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Tennessee men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl said extreme discomfort led to arthroscopic knee surgery for redshirt freshman Cameron Tatum on Friday.

“He had a little incident about three weeks ago, and he tried to play through it,'' said Pearl, who will hold the Vols' season-opening press conference this afternoon. “There was just too much discomfort. We tried to deal with it through therapy, first.

“He had arthroscopic surgery before the summer on his other knee, and he responded really well to that.''

Pearl said Tatum's recovery time should be 2 ½ to 3 ½ weeks. Tatum is battling for a starting spot at small forward.

Really, Pearl said, most of the players are battling for playing time.

“With practice starting Friday, we need to start getting more serious and we need to compete,'' Pearl said. “I'm going to be a lot less tolerant of mistakes now that we're getting started six days a week. This is when the conditioning has to kick in.''

Pearl said the team will meet for breakfast at 6:30 this morning before the media function begins this afternoon.

UT's first full practice is at 5 p.m. Friday.