Tennessee’s 11th-ranked men’s basketball team has a marquee matchup Tuesday night against visiting Michigan State, but the Volunteers will not have the momentum they wanted for the ESPN2-televised pairing with the No. 5 Spartans.
The Vols survived Tennessee State 83-78 on Friday night in the Food City Center, improving to 3-0 in unimpressive fashion.
“We don’t ever take any team lightly,” Tennessee 12th-year coach Rick Barnes said. “Our goal tonight was to play harder than we’ve ever played before, but we weren’t the hardest-playing team tonight. Tennessee State played harder, and I thought they were better coached.
“They executed better, and our guys don’t understand yet that we’re not good enough that we can’t compete first. We have to compete first.”
Vols junior guard Terrence Hill Jr. tallied 19 points, shooting 4-for-8 from 3-point range, and dished out five assists. Sophomore guard Jalen Haralson had 15 points and four assists, while sixth-year guard Tyler Lundblade added 14 points and made all nine of his free throws.