KNOXVILLE – Seven minutes and two seconds into Wednesday’s second half, Tennessee basketball coach Bruce Pearl became Bobby Knight.
His Bad News Vols’ 22-point halftime over Charlotte lead down to six, Pearl grabbed both sophomore guard Scotty Hopson and freshman forward Kenny Hall by their jerseys and began screaming in their faces.
“I’ve heard worse,” said Hall afterward, a smile on his face after the Vols’ eventual 88-71 victory. “We actually joked about it in the locker room. But at the time he was pretty upset. He said, ‘We need to step this up. We’re (expletive deleted) right now. Let’s get back to playing the way we did the first half.'”
With suspended Vols Tyler Smith, Cameron Tatum, Melvin Goins and Brian Williams nowhere to be found inside Thompson-Boling Arena, UT had gotten that 51-29 halftime lead by uncharacteristically pounding it inside.
Averaging 3.0 ppg, the 6-8 Hall had six points by the break. Averaging 10.9 points, 6-9 senior Wayne Chism had scored 16 before intermission, adding five assists and four steals.