BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl didn’t divulge his entire game plan for today’s second-round NCAA tournament game against Butler, but he said sophomore J.P. Prince will continue playing some at point guard.
Pearl said Prince, senior Jordan Howell and sophomore Ramar Smith would all get turns directing the offense today, but how much and when will remain a mystery until this afternoon.
Pearl said Howell and Smith haven’t earned 40 combined minutes.
“That’s just too many minutes,” Pearl said. “They have not played well enough at the position to warrant the minutes.”
Pearl admitted it was “an interesting time” in the season to make such a move, but he played Prince some at point in UT’s March 5 home win against Kentucky, and Howell and Smith continued to struggle in the SEC tournament.
“My job is also to get the best players on the floor,” Pearl said. “So getting my best players on the floor is really why J.P.’s playing some at the point. And I’m hoping that it was the right decision.”
Ramar Smith was listed Saturday as UT’s probable starter, but Howell is also a possibility despite making just four of his past 40 attempts from 3-point range.
“Whatever we need to play like we need to at the point guard position, I’m OK with that,” Howell said. “I trust Coach Pearl, and I think everybody on our team just wants to win.”
Howell, Prince and Smith combined to score 12 points on 1-for-5 shooting from the field and 10-for-16 shooting from the free-throw line Friday. They added five rebounds, five assists and four turnovers. Howell started but didn’t play in the second half, and all of Smith’s 14 minutes came after halftime. Prince played some at point in both halves.
“I look at it like I want to win,” Smith said. “If I can be a cheerleader on the bench and help my teammates win, then that’s what I’m going to do. There’s nothing you can do about it, but I’m just all about winning.”
Butler coach Brad Stevens said his team would prepare for all three point guards.
“Tennessee’s a great team with all of them on the floor, despite the fact they’re different players,” Stevens said. “Obviously Prince is a tremendous athlete — a guy that brings a lot of energy, a guy that makes place in transition, can make plays on a second chances, can make plays off the drive.
“He certainly is a guy that we have a great deal of respect for.”
Hotel no-tell
Earlier this week, the Birmingham News did a front-page feature on the hotels selected to host the eight teams competing in the Birmingham pod. Naturally, the story led with Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl.
Though the Vols have spent Easter weekend at the posh Tutwiler Hotel — which just completed a $9 million renovation — thanks to their No. 2 region seed, Pearl was only too ready to discuss his previous NCAA tourney accommodations during his time at Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
“Let’s put it this way,” he said. “We could tell when we were the lowest seed because it looked like there hadn’t been anybody there for about a month.”
The six hotels hosting this year’s eight teams — two each for the Wynfrey and Birmingham Marriott — were inspected by the NCAA in December. The NCAA requires a host hotel to have at least three meeting rooms per team, be full-service and be able to accommodate at least 50 people for meals, meeting and fan functions.
According to UT sophomore forward Wayne Chism, the historic Tutwiler easily passed all those tests.
“Oh, it’s great,” he said. “Good food. Nice beds. They’ve got a DVD player. It’s great.”
In the Birmingham News article, Chism complained that the hotel the team had stayed at during last week’s SEC tournament in Atlanta had brought him a dirty towel from room service.
Asked Saturday if the Tutwiler’s towels had been clean, Chism responded, “Absolutely. The only thing wrong with the Tutwiler is the toilets keep clogging up.”
Pitino tough love
Never one to let a motivational opportunity slip away, Louisville coach Rick Pitino couldn’t resist delivering a quick jab to forward Earl Clark following Friday’s win over Boise State.
“Earl’s been playing tremendous basketball of late, so I was surprised he didn’t have an offensive rebound,” Pitino said. “He’s going to run home, but outside of that he played really well. It’s a long trip, too.”
Everyone laughed, though Clark seemed a bit nervous. The Cardinals’ team hotel is 19 miles south of the arena.
Columnist Mark Wiedmer contributed to this story.
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