Tennessee associate head coach Tony Jones yells to his team during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against College of Charleston after coach Bruce Pearl was ejected in December in Knoxville. College of Charleston won 91-78. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Tony Jones did his best Bruce Pearl impression Saturday.
Filling in for the suspended Tennessee basketball coach, Jones looked every bit like his mentor. He gave the foot stomp, the head shake after a debated call and a series of flailing arm waves throughout the Volunteers’ 68-65 Southeastern Conference loss to Arkansas.
After a traveling call early in the second half, there was even an animated pounding of the scorer’s table that left Jones wincing and shaking his hand. His real pain, however, came in watching Tennessee fall behind by 13 points and lose an SEC opener for the first time in the Pearl era. The Razorbacks, also opening league play, led by one at halftime and trailed only briefly in the second half.
“It hurts right now,” Jones said of his hand. “I hope I didn’t break my hand by hitting it so hard.”
Pearl is suspended for Tennessee’s first eight conference games for misleading NCAA investigators during an ongoing probe into recruiting.
Jones, the associate head coach, last directed a full game during AAU basketball in 1993.
“I’ve been doing it for 17 years at the Division I level, working for one of the best coaches in the business collegiately in Bruce Pearl,” Jones said. “I’ve been his right-hand man for the last 10 years, so I’m more than prepared.”
The Razorbacks (11-3) were coming off the worst loss of coach John Pelphrey’s Arkansas career, a 33-point defeat by No. 12 Texas. They got an early boost against the Vols (10-5) from forward Marshawn Powell, who finished with 14 points in just his second start of the season.
The preseason All-SEC first-team selection by the coaches has been slowed while recovering from a broken foot suffered in the offseason, and he was suspended for a game two weeks ago.
Powell attempted the Razorbacks’ first three shots as they built an early lead, but Tennessee answered with an 8-0 run to go up 15-10. Arkansas answered with a 7-0 surge of its own, bookended by baskets by Powell, to go back up 17-15.
Arkansas didn’t trail the rest of the half, though the Vols tied the score three times. Rotnei Clarke, who had 15 points, scored the Razorbacks’ final six points of the half.
“I thought our guys showed incredible toughness,” Pelphrey said. “I think a lot of people may have been questioning what we were going to get today after the other day, so it was good to see them show some resiliency.”
Tennessee led 31-30 to start the second half after a dunk by freshman Tobias Harris, who finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds, but Arkansas answered with one of Clarke’s four 3-pointers and didn’t trail again. The Razorbacks led 57-44 after a Jeff Peterson layup off a fastbreak assist from Julysses Nobles, who had eight assists in the game.
The Vols rallied with a 9-0 run to close the lead to 57-53 on a 3-pointer by Melvin Goins. Delvon Johnson answered with back-to-back inside baskets for Arkansas, including an alley-oop dunk and three-point play off a pass from Nobles for a 62-55 margin.
“I knew we needed big plays down the stretch,” Nobles said. “I was just trying to do whatever I could to get my teammates a win.”
Johnson led the Razorbacks with 17 points and hit a free throw to put them up 67-63. John Fields’ quick dunk on the other end brought Tennessee to within 67-65 with 22 seconds remaining.
After Arkansas went up 68-65 on a Peterson free throw with 19 seconds left, Harris’ open 3-pointer for Tennessee from the right baseline went long at the buzzer.