Tennessee 76, Lincoln Memorial 67
Lincoln MemorialJake Troyli 9-11 5-6 25; Desmond Johnson 5-12 0-1 11; Wally Jones 4-6 0-0 10; Justin Allen 3-4 3-4 9; Vincent Bailey 3-9 0-0 6; Cam Carden 2-6 0-0 5; Brandon Armstrong 0-7 1-2 1; Lorenza Ross 0-0 0-0 0; C.J. Wakeley 0-0 0-1 0; Dustin Craig 0-2 0-0 0; Tony Martin 0-0 0-1 0.TennesseeTrae Golden 6-13 6-7 22; Cameron Tatum 5-15 0-0 13; Skylar McBee 4-6 0-0 11; Jeronne Maymon 2-7 7-7 11; Kenny Hall 2-6 4-5 8; Jordan McRae 1-9 0-2 3; Josh Richardson 1-2 1-1 3; Renaldo Woolridge 1-3 0-0 3; Yemi Makanjuola 0-1 2-2 2; Wes Washpun 0-1 0-0 0; Dwight Miller 0-1 0-0 0.3-point goals--LMU (Troyli 2-3, Jones 2-2, Johnson 1-2, Carden 1-3, Armstrong 0-3); UT 12-31 (Golden 4-9, Tatum 3-9, McBee 3-4, Woolridge 1-2, McRae 1-5, Richardson 0-1, Miller 0-1). Rebounds--LMU 34 (Johnson 10); UT 45 (Maymon 11). Assists--LMU 20 (Allen 4, Carden 4); UT 16 (Golden 8). Total fouls--LMU 20; UT 19. Fouled out--None.
KNOXVILLE -- Tennessee played with a sense of urgency early in its second and final basketball exhibition game of the season.
It's a good thing the Volunteers did, too.
They used a 19-0 run and led by as many as 18 in the first half before fending off a couple of late rallies to defeat Division II Lincoln Memorial 76-67 on Monday night at Thompson-Boling Arena.
"As a coach, when you have such a big lead in the first half, you know something's bound to happen," first-year UT coach Cuonzo Martin said. "Guys somehow mentally let up, so it's just a matter of getting off to a good start and maintaining. You're subbing guys in and out trying to get guys minutes, but you're also trying to win the game at the same time, so that happens."
Point guard Trae Golden led UT with 22 points on 6-of-13 shooting with four 3-pointers and added four rebounds and eight assists. Cameron Tatum had 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists, and Skylar McBee had 11 points with three 3-pointers.
UT made just one of its first nine shots before ripping off 19 consecutive points to go up 21-3 against the Railsplitters, who are ranked second nationally in a pair of Division II polls. The Vols led 44-28 at halftime and built their largest lead (53-30) on two Golden treys.
LMU had a 15-2 run to cut it to 64-60 with seven minutes remaining.
"We set the tone early, and that's going to be our calling card and what we have to stick to," Tatum said. "I think it's easy for a lot of teams, a trap for a lot of good teams, and that's something that we can't fall into. We have to really stay attached to our principles for a whole 40 minutes of a game. We can't have any letups like that; we've got to continue to stay with it and play hard."
Golden hit a 3 and dished to Tatum for a fastbreak dunk to answer. LMU twice cut its deficit to six, but Jeronne Maymon (11 points, 11 rebounds) answered once with a bucket in the post and Kenny Hall (eight points, 10 rebounds) hit a pair of free throws with 1:41 to preserve the win.
"We've got to really work on our defense," Golden said. "We definitely needed that to see where we're going to be at and see everybody keep their calm and keep their composure. I think we just had a letdown with our defense, and if we can fix that we'll be fine. We started missing assignments, things that we did in the first half that we didn't do in the second half."
LMU's Jake Troyli, a transfer from Presbyterian, made his first eight shots from the field and had a game-high 25 points. The Railsplitters shot 54 percent (15-of-28) in the second half, but the Vols made 20 of 24 free throws and hit 12 3s despite shooting 34 percent for the game.
Maymon picked up his third foul two minutes into the second half and Hall was whistled for his fourth five minutes later. With UT's two starting post players out, LMU scored 18 second-half points in the paint.
"Our transition defense broke down in the second half," Martin said. "I thought we played defense the way we're capable of playing in the first half."
The Vols open the season Friday night at home against UNC Greensboro.
"Tennessee's expected to win this game because we're Tennessee, but that's a really good opponent -- tough opponent, physical opponent," Martin said. "They give you your money's worth. Most teams wouldn't play those guys because of what they bring to the table."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com or 901-581-7288. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/patrickbrowntfp.