Tennessee guard Josh Richardson (1) drives ball to the basket on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2014, during his game against Texas Southern at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville.KNOXVILLE - The crowd at Thompson-Boling Arena for Tennessee's home basketball opener Thursday night might have been rather small, but it still made a difference.
In front of the smallest crowd for a home opener since 2004, the Volunteers ran away from Texas Southern in the second half and won 70-58. That was coach Donnie Tyndall's first victory at Tennessee.
"We want to be happy as a team," said Armani Moore, who scored all 11 of his points in the second half. "Any win is a good win. You can't really look at who you're playing, but most importantly, we feel like it's a very important win for Coach Tyndall in his season opener. He was able to get the 'W.'
"I feel like that's what we worked hard for all summer, is to come out and get off to a good start."
Six days after losing by 16 points to 15th-ranked Virginia Commonwealth in Annapolis, Md., Tennessee (1-1) avoided its first 0-2 start since the 1965-66 season, when Ray Mears coached the Vols.
The game was tied at 30 at halftime, and after eight ties and seven lead changes, Kevin Punter's 3-point basket with 12:14 left gave Tennessee a lead (45-44) it would not relinquish.
With the game going back and forth midway through the second half, Tyndall, who reportedly met with NCAA investigators this week regarding potential violations that may have occurred under his watch at Southern Mississippi, often implored the fans to get louder and boost the Vols, and they often obliged.
"It was awesome," he said of his first win. "Our fans were fantastic. That's so important to me. You always want to protect your home court. It's been a dream of mine for a long time to be a head coach in this league, and Tennessee, I've said, is a dream job. It was opportunity for us to go out and hopefully impress our home fans, and they'll come back watch us play.
"Certainly a great experience, and glad we got the 'W'."
It wasn't pretty, as the Vols wheezed past the Tigers out of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, coached by former Indiana and UAB coach Mike Davis, to earn the program's 23rd straight home-opening win dating back to a loss to East Tennessee State in 1991.
The announced crowd of 13,326 was the lowest since 2004, when 11,917 fans showed up to see Tennessee beat Wofford in Buzz Peterson's fourth and final year as coach. Tennessee's average attendance for home openers under Cuonzo Martin the past three seasons was 16,882, and the average for Bruce Pearl's six home openers was 20,223.
To open his postgame meeting with the media, though, Tyndall said Tennessee would not have won if not for the crowd's help and thanked the fans, and he told his players to go into the stands and concourses of Thompson-Boling to thank them.
"I wasn't really expecting that, but it's something I wouldn't expect," Moore said. "I understand what he means, what he wanted to do there. I feel like that's important. He's a new coach (in his) first year here."
Texas Southern (0-3) jumped out to an 8-2 lead as Tennessee, which had three new starters, including freshmen forwards Jabari McGhee and Willie Carmichael, made just four of its first 17 shots.
The 6-foot-8 Carmichael provided the highlight play of the night, skying to swat 6-9 Nick Shepherd's one-handed dunk attempt in the first half.
"He blocked it," senior guard Josh Richardson said, "and I was screaming at everybody that was around me."
Richardson again paced Tennessee with 17 points and eight rebounds, while Moore chipped in eight rebounds, two steals and three blocks.
After the Tigers had just four turnovers in the first half, Tennessee used its full-court press to force the visitors into nine in the second half, and that was the difference in the game.
"For us, we just want to keep wearing them down," said Punter, who scored 13 points.
"We see them wearing down, we just keep pushing it and keep pushing it until they can't do it anymore, until they quit."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com