KNOXVILLE - The No. 24 Tennessee Volunteers overcame a sluggish first half and used their size and quickness to out muscle the Tusculum Pioneers in the second half for a 100-57 victory in the final exhibition at Thompson-Boling Arena. For the second straight game, Tennessee was led in scoring by JaJuan Smith who finished with 21 points, including five 3-pointers, as five Vols scored in double figures.
After shooting just 35 percent in the first half from the field and hitting 2-of-9 from the free throw stripe, the Vols found their stroke in the second half, connecting on 27-of-38 (71 percent) from the field as they outscored the Pioneers 64-30.
Tennessee opened the second half on a 19-10 run in taking 59-36 lead at 13:34. The Vols were aided by four 3-pointers during the run, including two by Smith. But it was a 19-0 run over the next three minutes that extended the lead to 41 at 78-37 on a dunk by Duke Crews. From there, Tennessee put it in cruise control as the lead grew to a high of 45 at 100-55 on a jumper by Ryan Childress.
Wayne Chism tallied 12 points with five steals. Crews and Ramar Smith each added 11, while Smith handed out eight assists. Chris Lofton put in 10 for the Vols.
Chris Poore led Tusculum with 21 points.
Despite forcing 20 first half turnovers, it took a late 8-1 run by the Vols over the final three minutes to take a 36-27 lead at the break.
Tusculum gave the Vols a fight early, taking a 15-13 lead on a jumper by Jordan Lear at 15:17 before Tennessee went on a 14-6 run over the next eight minutes in building a 25-19 advantage. The Pioneers then cut it to two at 28-26 before the final run by the Vols.
Tennessee opens the regular season Nov. 10 against Middle Tennessee in Knoxville at 7:30 p.m. ET.
TENNESSEE HEAD COACH Bruce Pearl: "Tusculum played really well, and I am thankful to them for exposing us. Chris Poore can play basketball; he is a tough kid, a nice player. Tusculum will have a good year. Poore could play for us.
"We missed a lot of inside shots early in the game, but when you shoot 71 percent in the second half, and you hold your opponent to 33 percent, that is what you want. We are making progress, but we have a long way to go.
"We are a good pressing team. Last year, we were good on defense because of our experience. This year, we are not good on drop-back defense because of our inexperience.
"Chris Lofton passed up some shots early, but he is still not getting to the free-throw line. We need Lofton to be taking shots. We will work on that.
"Where will Jordan Howell fit in? Tonight we had a three-man rotation at the point-guard position. You can use two men, but not three. It is my preference to play two men 20 minutes each rather than have one go for 33 minutes.
"You can see the improvement in Ryan Childress - he is much quicker than he was."
TUSCULUM COLLEGE HEAD COACH JIM BOONE: "Tennessee is just a lot bigger and stronger, and much more physical than Xavier. The effort they gave on the glass is something that we have not seen before. We have not seen that type of effort at our level, and we certainly did not see it against Xavier. That is not to demean Xavier in any way, but it just speaks volumes about the work ethic and the effort at Tennessee. It was tremendous.
"Tennessee's level of pressure and their athleticism just caught up with us during the second half. It wears on you; we were trying to play only 10 or 11 guys tonight. Our defense did a good job of slowing Tennessee down in the beginning, but eventually it just a matter of time before they got on track because they are a very good basketball team.
"I was not very pleased with Chris Poore's play tonight for us. I did not think he played very well on the defensive end, and I did not think he was very active on the offensive end. Poore is a much better player than what we saw tonight."
(E-mail Stan Crawley at wscrawley@earthlink.net)