KNOXVILLE – When the University of Tennessee basketball team got on its flight to Auburn late Wednesday evening, it did so without its leading scorer.
Junior guard Scotty Hopson, who sprained his left ankle in practice on Tuesday, did not make the trip with the Volunteers (14-7, 4-2 Southeastern Conference) for tonight’s game at Auburn. Freshman forward Tobias Harris will play but see his minutes slightly reduced after rolling his ankle last Saturday against Ole Miss.
“We’d rather be taking Scotty, there’s no question,” said UT coach Bruce Pearl, who also didn’t travel with the team as he sits out the seventh game of his eight-game SEC suspension.
“I’m always going to look at the bright side on something. If there’s any tendency to go down there [taking] a team that’s 1-6 [lightly], by not going down with one of your best players, there’s no opportunity for that.”
Pearl, who didn’t disclose the changes to the rotation in Hopson’s absence, has warned anybody who will listen this week about the Tigers (8-13, 1-6). Auburn, a depleted team with the league’s worst RPI, lost non-conference games to Samford, Campbell and Presbyterian, but won convincingly at South Carolina last Saturday.
“I can count on one or two fingers in league play in five and half years where we took anybody lightly or where I felt that was a factor,” Pearl said. “No chance now, and I think that’s going to be a healthy mindset for us.”
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