Tennessee men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl gave thanks Friday night - not Thursday morning.
Pearl was appreciative the No. 9 Vols scored a win after he exhausted them with the toughest practice he's ever held the day before a game.
Tennessee (5-1) defeated the College of Charleston 86-69 before a crowd of 18,293 at Thompson-Boling Arena, but the energy level was decidedly down en route to the victory.
"I absolutely wore us out,'' Pearl said. "I can't tell you how hard we practiced. I'm blaming myself, it went three hours.''
Scotty Hopson led the Vols on Friday with 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including 3 of 3 beyond the arc, and Tyler Smith had 18 points and a team-high five assists.
Hopson carried UT's offense early on, scoring 17 of his points through the first 20 minutes, and Smith took over by scoring 16 of his 18 points in the second half.
Brian Williams and Wayne Chism had 11 points each, with Chism getting his points despite playing only 13 minutes on account of foul trouble.
Donavan Monroe led the Cougars (1-3) with 16 points, and former Bearden High School standout Tony White Jr. had 12 points and a team-high six assists.
"I think we were tired,'' said UT sophomore Cameron Tatum, who started in place of J.P. Prince. "We didn't come out with any energy, and we can't do that.''
Pearl said he changed up the starting lineup because Prince has been pressing. The move worked; Prince had nine points and six rebounds in 18 minutes.
In addition to the difficult Thanksgiving morning practice, Pearl said the Vols also are getting over playing four games in seven days.
The Cougars, picked to win the Southern Conference, had cause to be sluggish, too - they played East Tennessee State on Wednesday night.
UT held a 41-33 lead at the half, which it extended to 46-33 with 17:19 left on a Smith drive to the basket.
The Cougars rallied, hitting 3-pointers on three consecutive trips down the floor as part of an 11-2 run that cut the Vols' lead to 48-44 with 15:57 left.
Charleston was still hanging around at the 9:14 mark when Andrew Goudelock hit a 3-pointer to make it 61-58.
But the tandem of Smith and Williams stayed strong.
"I thought Brian showed good energy and was effective,'' Pearl said. "We needed him, and he stepped up.''
UT led 67-61 when Williams hit a pair of free throws to key a 15-2 run, which Williams also capped with a bucket inside that made it 82-63 with 3:57 remaining.
The Vols shot 56.4 percent from the floor and out-rebounded the Cougars 44-24 despite their tired legs.
Pearl said he was disappointed with the Vols' 16 turnovers.
"If you want to get on us, get on us for not valuing possessions enough,'' Pearl said. "How does Tyler play 33 minutes and not turn the ball over and have five assists? The rest of us really struggled.''
The Vols return to action at 7 p.m. Wednesday against East Tennessee State at Thompson-Boling Arena.
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Comments » 35
Orangeblood13 writes:
good game, but depth was the issue
we dont get an identity soon, we will be
in trouble with the tuffer teams
huntined#565710 writes:
Good win ,, I an watching FLA play and they are not the same NIT team as last year..their zone is really good as that and their defense is what they used to beat FLA STATE and in this game with Michigan State,,Their full press looks as good as ours and that is against the number 2 team in the country..don't know if they will win but they sure are in it..
beachvol1 writes:
Still no defense...repeat of last yr...
V_O_L_S_GO_VOLS_GO writes:
I still feel like Tyler's not NBA material though. MAYBE off the bench, but DEFINITELY not a starter. Not if he doesn't make an immense turnaround soon and be a dominating player.
huntined#565710 writes:
GATORS WON THAT GAME..
mytrifecta writes:
This team won tonight based on talent alone. When they play good teams down the stretch, their street-ball game plan won't work. We had a huge size advantage and Smith and other big men never touched the ball in the first half.
licknpromise777#651578 writes:
Pretty obvious UT fans;players and coaches showed no enthusiasm in this game and it showed..Crimins is a good coach and he put some decent players on the floor..UT didn't show any intensity till the last 8 minutes..Looks like Prince will be losing his place in the starting line up..Sad state for a senior I must say..Obviously this game didn't matter; just another W and move on...Only positives; Williams playing better and hitting his free throws and the team got to work on much needed drives to the basket and scoring more in the paint..They better play better against ETSU and MTSU because they will bring their "A" game and they both desperately want an in state upset..On a side note FLA just upset #2 Mich State in the supposedly weak SEC!!
tfoxi writes:
Bruce Pearl owns billy the kid donovan
licknpromise777#651578 writes:
I agree about the point guard; They certainly don't have the ball handling skills of a Jordan Howell..Between the 2 they scored a miserable 4 points..Only bright spot: Maze is getting better at driving one on one to the basket
VOLKING writes:
Hey Morristown, glad to have you back....with a new screenname too. Same ol' s---, different name. How about just going away. You don't like Pearl...yeah, yeah, we get it. Now STFU and go away and leave the board to Vol fans.
pupvol writes:
amen bother! save me the print.
VOLoom writes:
You guys sure are doom and gloom. If we lose another are you gonna go throw rocks at their windows or what. I like these guys and I find them highly entertaining. I thought they showed pretty good intensity tonight. Oh well, I guess it's not about winning anymore it must be about whining from all the bull posts I see in here.
Ironcity writes:
IF you hate all the players and the team then go find another team to root for. Its amazing to me that a bunch of sidewalk alums get on here and claim to being fans and rip players for not be NBA skilled players. They rip them for wanting to get to the league.
These same fans expect a team to be geeked up for every team on the schedule. These same fools expect the team to be threw the roof in every big game. Last but not least these same fans expect not one bad play from our team nor any missed shots.
Why can't you guys just watch and enjoy a game. We have a good team that plays hard period. Are they going to be as smart as Duke on the floor? No!! What you get is tremendous amount of effort with a tremendous amount of desire. This team will be fine. Will it win the NCAA's? Not likely but I think we can say this team as well as all of coach Pearls teams will be in the NCAA's.
VOLKING writes:
Amen. Good post. BTW, most of the doom and gloom comes from interlopers posing as Vol fans, but not all. Vol fans are proud of what Pearl has brought us. We are relevant in basketball. I don't think we will ever be Duke, UNC or UK, but I'll take NCAA tourney every year and ranked every year over what we have had to put up with in years' past.
prideofthesouthland writes:
4 out of 7 will be good in the long run.
oldorange writes:
I went to the old spice classic last year to not only watch UT, but to watch Mich State also. Michigan State was terrible. I remember thinking how bad of a year Michigan State was going to have. I think they just start slow. Maybe I'll feel differently if the gators beat them in the tournament....We'll see.......Go Vols!
tonyvick#213307 writes:
Gee, I thought it was me who was sleepy and uninspired last night. CBP now you know better than to have that kind of practice before a game, what the...? And don't be afraid to keep Prince on the bench I believe he's playing with a negative attitude about something.
kman29 writes:
Obviously teams right now are not as good as they will be come March, but with that said its quite obvious that this years Florida team is a lot better defensively and now has big men to control the inside. And the difference really showed this week with big non conference wins over Florida State and Michigan State, two teams expected to go to the tournament.
licknpromise777#651578 writes:
Went to old spice last year too..Had way more fun there than in tampa at the sec tourney..Will never forget the stunned;ashamed look on the MSU fans face after they got beat in the first game; followed by the vols kicking the cr#p out of georgetown
licknpromise777#651578 writes:
Have always been a big defender of Prince and in watching the game follow his movement away from the ball; but this year Iam beyond baffled. At this point he's just a good rebounder. Last night he had back to back turnovers dribbling with no one around; both times it was clearly lack of concentration and poor effort..His nonchalant passing will start to lead to more and more turnovers..I have always liked this kid because of his ability to score points when the team was caving in but come on JP enough is enough
dvols writes:
pearl has a nice tan....
smith, jp, chism, are the same guy they were 3 yrs ago???
mixin powdered kool aid!
VolJunkie writes:
Pete, I might call your assessment several things, objective is not one of them. "Pearl is a fraud ...", your opinion, "... this team will lose 8 games ...", again, your opinion. It's a free board, you can post what you want, I can always choose to read or ignore, however don't pass off your negative opinions as "objective assessment" and then cry "foul" when someone calls you out. Can't have it both ways.
Just my opinion, I could be wrong ...
Go Vols!
VolJunkie writes:
Not the team's best effort last night, they got absolutely torched on the perimeter. If CofC had stayed hot shooting the "3" this could have been a different game. The press is getting better and they seem to be working the ball down low more consistently; if Brian had been able to finish stronger he could easily have had another 6-8 points. I really like Prince coming off the bench, Tatum is playing good ball and it is nice to see him get the start.
A few more games to prepare and get ready for Memphis, Kansas and the SEC, should be a fun year.
Go Vols!
BubbaJ writes:
Morristown, you can knock Pearl all you want. Last night was not the best showing for the Vols for sure, but given their stretch of 4 games in a week, and coming back from the islands to play
a decent team, it was to be expected. Pearl even
admitted they were tired.
What is important here is it's still November. If you know anything about basketball, what you do in November has little to do with how you finish in March. This is a deep and tallented team which just played a very good Purdue team
to the wire. Come March, Pearl will have this bunch ready for the dance. Don't forget just how bad this program use to be. You sir, have!
KnoxTennVol writes:
PETE_BELL looks and sounds like VOICE_OF_REASON to me. Both negative Pearl haters and both use names with all caps and __ underscore between words. I hope I am wrong though, I would hate to see V_O_R back.
The_Greater_Pumpkin writes:
19 point win. PERIOD! Yes we were sluggish. We are tired and it's the hoildays. These kids, yes, kids (18-21 years old) will have letdowns. Put another W on the board and get ready for the next game. Pearl is the MAN! Lets get rady for the SEC!
sandiegovolunteer writes:
Over the last couple of games- every time Goins or Maze brings the ball down the court and just shoots it without passing- they miss nearly every time. We can get that shot with 2 secs left in the clock- why do they continue to do that? I also think the crowd needs to step up as well- not just the players! Obviously the players rev the crowd- but it works both ways.
VOLDoll writes:
Volking, I am and have been a Bruce Pearl supporter since he first arrived.
But MTV is correct in saying that not all Vol fans are supporters of his. My husband and many of his friends agree with MTV in saying that he does just enough to keep some of the fanbase excited while accomplising very little.
So you may want to let people have their own opinions and quit bashing them every time they disagree with yours.
mytrifecta writes:
We have one of the most talented teams in the country. When I see them get taken deep into the 2nd half by a team with half our talent it concerns me. When I see them show no discipline, shoot around 50% from the free-throw line (1st half) and treat this like a Rocky-Top league game it concerns me. That doesn't make me less of a fan. I simply want this team to play up to their potential and I'm not going to accept anything less. The good news is Bruce Pearl won't accept anything less either. I'm confident he will bring these guys together and we'll be an Elite 8...possibly a final 4 team. But, right now is the time this team needs to hone their game in preparation for a challenging SEC and non-conference schedule...not goof around and play to the level of their talent.
VOLDoll writes:
LOL! U are either his son or you fantasize about the coach.
I've never seen anyone take cticism so personal.
Kind of sad!
And there is no way you were around during the Ray Mears era. No way some one that age would take a meaningless opinion on a chat board and take so personal.
I'm going to guess a college Frosh with not many friends. lol!
And I can promise you I have never met MTV and disagree with him quite a bit, but I'm not going to pout and cry over his opinion.
Plasticcman, get out and get a life my man.
You remind me a lot of VOR, get out and get a damn girlfriend.
And by the way Stephen, I still like your daddy! LMFAO!
jhayes0926#638474 writes:
I agree with most of what you posted. My concern though is that UT does not seem to be able to play well during the last 2 minutes of a close game. I think this will end up costing us the elite 8. We should have won the Purdue game regardless of when or where it was played. I think Tyler should be able to take the team on his back in the last two minutes of a game, but he doesn't seem to do that.
Go ahead and call me negative (a lot of people take it personal if one doesn't agree with them), but even though this is the best team UT has had in 15 years, I don't think we make it to elite 8 and we will be hard pressed to beat Ky for East div.
Ironcity writes:
AH you seem to have it all figured out. I guess this team will stink it out this year. They don't put forth effort and all they care about is the NBA. I think as the year progresses you will see more defined roles for players and this team will become the team we have never seen on the hill.
I do worry that the basketball IQ of this team is not that good. I do worry that we don't have a go to guy at the end of games like most great teams. What I don't worry about is effort, I don't worry about desire and I don't worry about our coaches ability to coach them up. The fact that you can come on here and say getting to the NCAA's is no longer good enough pretty much sums up what coach has created here.
When this team finds its identity and truly starts to believe in itself, I think we will see them take off. To judge this team base on a game against Charleston, a game we won by 17 points but didn't win by 30 is ridiculous.
798orange writes:
To be a better team and advance further in the postseason they need to develop more toughness. The bigger guys settle for too many jumpers from outside. Too often there is not enough movement without the ball and perimeter defense still has holes. That said, they still have the potential to be an elite team. Oh yeah, I wish they would get rid of the hand-bands.
Stokes44yrs writes:
I hate to disagree with most posts but I was really impressed. NO intensity. No defense. No teamwork to speak of...but we still handed a decent (somewhat) team a big (scorewise) loss!?
Get some rest Vols and play hard Wednesday...oh and at least hold your hands up against ETSU on D.
VOLKING writes:
Thanks Voldolly, but I was speaking to one individual who is an interloper and changes screennames and tries to stir things up. I will give your unwarranted advice all the attention it deserves. BTW, is your husband Jerry Green or Buzz Petersen?
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