KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl still isn’t sure who belongs out on the court for the Volunteers.
As the Vols struggled on Wednesday night against yet another mid-major opponent, Pearl continuously tinkered with the lineup. By halftime, he’d gone through 12 players and Tennessee-Martin still had a four-point lead.
“We are consistently inconsistent,” Pearl said. “If you’re asking the head coach who he wants to have out there, the head coach still doesn’t know who he wants out there. That’s a scary thing to be in January and not really know.”
The deep rotation did just enough for the Vols to pull out a 68-62 win over the Skyhawks, their second straight narrow victory after a three-game losing streak.
The Skyhawks, who are 1-8 on the road this season and lost at No. 2 Ohio State by 60 points on Monday, held a five-point lead with 14:23 to go against the Volunteers. Tennessee then used an 11-3 run to take a 50-47 lead with 9:39 left.