KNOXVILLE — As most folks already know, Tennessee basketball coach Bruce Pearl wasn’t allowed anywhere near Thompson-Boling Arena for Wednesday night’s visit from LSU.
His ongoing Southeastern Conference suspension for NCAA recruiting violations has had four games to go heading into the LSU game, and Pearl isn’t about to challenge that penalty.
But that didn’t mean his pre-practice talk from Tuesday didn’t keep swirling around in junior guard Scotty Hopson’s head as he took the court against the Tigers.
“His intensity was out the roof,” recalled Hopson late Wednesday evening. “He told us if we didn’t play hard he’d be on us like a dog the next day in practice. I knew I didn’t want to run tomorrow.”
So he was on the Tigers like a rabid dog from the opening tap, his 22 points on just 14 shots the biggest reason why UT ran LSU into the ground, 75-53.