Rude awakening for Vols; share SEC East title, 70-67

Alabama served a rude awakening to the Tennessee men’s basketball team early Sunday afternoon.

Reserve guard Anthony Brock hit a leaning 3-pointer that banked in at the buzzer to lift the Tide to a 70-67 upset of the SEC East Division co-champion Vols at Thompson-Boling Arena.

“I would think I would be in a situation where I would say nothing would surprise me about this basketball team,’’ UT coach Bruce Pearl said. “We just never got out of bed.’’

The Vols (19-11, 10-6 SEC) could have won the SEC East title outright with a win, but instead share it with South Carolina (21-8, 10-6).

UT maintains the No. 1 seed in the East for the league tournament in Tampa, Fla., and opens play 7:30 p.m. Friday against the winner of Thursday’s 7:30 p.m. first-round game between Alabama (17-13, 7-9) and Vanderbilt (19-11, 8-8).

The Tide dictated the tempo of Sunday’s contest from the onset, charging out to a 39-29 halftime lead as UT struggled against its 2-3 zone.

“We weren’t executing; no spacing, poor decision making,’’ said Vols’ captain Tyler Smith, who had 11 points, 11 rebounds and four assists. “We weren’t moving the ball as well as we did against Florida and South Carolina.

“This feels like the Memphis game because it’s on me. Shooting 3-for-15 . . . I can’t do that as a leader. If I’m off, I can’t take that many shots.’’

Alabama’s sizable defense repeatedly collapsed on Smith, double- and sometimes triple-teaming him.

The Tide did it at the expense of leaving the Vols open looks on the perimeter.

UT couldn’t take advantage, hitting only one of 11 shots beyond the 3-point arc through the first 20 minutes.

The crowd of 20,493 that turned out for Senior Day was quiet enough that Pearl could clearly be heard yelling plays from the other end of the court throughout.

The Vols didn’t give their followers much to cheer about until Scotty Hopson and Wayne Chism combined on an 11-0 run to pull the Vols to 43-42 with 16:02 remaining.

A pair of Hopson free throws got it going, and then Chism hit back-to-back 3-pointers and Hopson capped the spurt with a trey.

“I thought it was turned around, and everyone else thought that, too,’’ said Chism, who had 13 points and 10 rebounds. “That’s when the crowd started getting into the game, and that gave us some more energy.’’

But while UT was warming up beyond the arc, it cooled considerably from the free-throw line, hitting six of 16 free-throw attempts in the second half, including two misses on the front end of 1-and-1 situations.

“It’s not always about effort — sometimes it’s about focus,’’ said Pearl, whose team hit a season-low .455 (10-of-22) from the free-throw line. “When you miss 10 free throws in the second half, it’s a lost focus, and a lost sense of urgency.’’

Even so, the Vols had the ball with one minute left in a 67-67 game.

Bobby Maze missed a 3-pointer, but Alabama’s Yamene Coleman traveled when he came down with the rebound with 40 seconds left.

Pearl said he chose to run the 35-second clock down for a good look rather than rush a shot with hopes of getting the final possession.

UT got the ball inside to Smith, whose initial shot was blocked by Alabama’s 6-foot-9 JaMychal Green. Smith’s put-back attempt was ruled to have hit the rim, but he ended up with the ball again on the baseline as the shot clock buzzer sounded.

“The ref called the ball out on me,’’ Smith said. “He said I hit the ball out – it wasn’t a shot-clock violation.’’

The Tide inbounded the ball with 4.2 seconds left and rushed upcourt, Brock dribbling to an open area to set up the game-winner.

“Brock made a tough shot; it was about a 22-footer,’’ said Alabama interim coach Philip Pearson, whose Tide has won four of its past five games. “I am just happy it went in the basket.’’

Pearl, meanwhile, said it could be tough for the Vols to pick up the pieces.

“It’s not a very happy locker room,’’ Pearl said. “It does hurt. I don’t think this is one we could recover from quickly.

“Let’s see what happens now. How hungry are we?’’