Tennessee guard Armani Moore (4) dunks the ball over Auburn center Trayvon Reed (4) during their game at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015.KNOXVILLE — Bruce Who?
The highly anticipated basketball game at Thompson-Boling Arena on Saturday afternoon belonged to Armani Moore.
On the day former Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl — who took the Volunteers to six NCAA tournaments, a No. 1 ranking and the program’s first Elite Eight — returned to Knoxville as the first-year coach at Auburn, Moore scored a career-high 19 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and made two high-flying highlight-reel plays in Tennessee’s 71-63 Southeastern Conference win.
There was a mix of emotions for the season-high crowd of 18,439, who gave Pearl a warm reception and current Vols coach Donnie Tyndall a louder one before the Vols (13-7, 5-3) emerged victorious in a scrappy, emotionally charged game.
“I honestly don’t feel like this was really any different of a game,” Moore said. “Obviously Bruce Pearl did use to coach here, but I never had a relationship with him at all. I don’t think any of our other players ever got recruited by him or had any type of relationship with him.
“The most important thing was going out and getting the win, and I feel like we did a great job of executing that.”
For Pearl, back in the SEC after three years in timeout as the NCAA’s punishment for lying to investigators that led to the end of his Tennessee tenure, there were the emotions of seeing familiar faces and the memories of what he accomplished.
He soaked in his welcome and waved to fans on his way onto and off the floor.
“It was a really special time in Tennessee basketball history, and we were able to add to it,” Pearl said. “The vast majority of what we did was really good. It was a nice reception.”
Tyndall said he never talked about the aspect of Pearl’s return with his team.
“We’re not oblivious,” Vols guard Josh Richardson said after scoring 15 points. “We knew what it was. But he didn’t talk about it all.”
Like Pearl, Tyndall is a blue-collar coach with a showman side, and he even though he’s gotten animated to get crowds involved in games throughout his first season, he seemingly did it continously Saturday.
“He always says you’ve got to coach the fans and you’ve got to coach the team,” Moore said. “I feel like that’s a good thing, because when our fans do get into it, it gives us that extra boost. Tonight he really didn’t have to coach them as much, because they were all into the game. They were really into it.”
Tyndall downplayed the notion of this win having extra meaning for him, but his sideline conduct and the way he pumped his fists triumphantly leaving the floor told a different story.
“The way I approach every game is I’m nervous as you could ever be and feel like it’s all on the line every single game,” he said. “That’s just how I’m built. I don’t think that’s healthy, but that’s me. It was probably more important to our fans because of the return of Coach Pearl.
“Really we just approached this game (as) it was our players, our team against his players and his team.”
That’s where Moore stole the show.
The undersized junior forward was aggressive offensively and active on the glass, where he pulled down five more rebounds than Auburn’s Cinmeon Bowers, the SEC’s leading rebounder.
“We had no answer for him,” Pearl said.
It was his two highlight plays, though, that still had his teammates buzzing after the game.
In the first half, he seemingly hung in the air an extra split-second to slam a one-handed putback of a miss to complete a 17-6 stretch that erased Auburn’s eight-point lead.
In a second half in which Tennessee took control with an 11-0 run, he viciously swatted Bowers’ shot into the stands.
“All I know is he slapped my hand too hard after one of those,” said Kevin Punter, who scored 17 points for the Vols. “When Armani gets mad, sometimes I don’t even want to shake his hand, because he may smack my hand too hard. I love Armani, though.
“Both were great plays, both were momentum swings, and when he’s doing that, we’re a pretty tough team to beat.”
Moore had no issue picking a favorite between the second dunk or his 24th blocked shot of his season.
“Probably the block,” he said. “That’s something I enjoy doing.”
Tyndall and Pearl exchanged an embrace and a message at the final buzzer.
“I want Donnie to do well,” Pearl said.
“I’m proud of the fact,” he added, “that Tennessee basketball is still good and still relevant.”
And Tyndall was glad to get a win against one of his predecessors who helped the Vols get there.
“Being a new coach at a school and playing against the old coach that did so much for the school and that the fans love so much, I mean, if he felt any pressure, I think he did a good job of not letting us see it,” Richardson said.
“I just know it meant a lot to him.”
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.