TENNESSEE 74, TENNESSEE STATE 69
TENNESSEE STATE (9-4)Loman 1-1 0-0 2, Martin 7-13 5-5 19, Reddick 3-7 0-0 9, DeShields 6-10 0-1 13, Richards 1-2 0-0 2, Chaney 1-1 0-0 2, Roper 3-9 2-3 10, Fincher 0-0 0-0 0, Griggs-Williams 4-6 0-2 9, McCall 1-8 1-2 3. Totals 27-57 8-13 69.
KNOXVILLE – When four of your five starters are 6-foot-5 or shorter and you haven’t won away from home all season, you take your wins where you can find them.
But that doesn’t mean first-year Tennessee men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes was overly pleased with his Volunteers’ come-from-behind, 74-69 win over visiting Tennessee State inside Thompson-Boling Arena on Tuesday afternoon.
“I really thought the best team didn’t win today,” Barnes said after Tennessee improved to 7-5 heading into its Southeastern Conference opener against former UT coach Bruce Pearl at Auburn at 2 p.m. Saturday.
“Tennessee State’s unbelievably well-coached. We were very fortunate to win.”
Especially after a first half any SEC coach would like to forget against an Ohio Valley Conference team whose best win this season was a 93-90, double-overtime victory at Stetson.
But the Tigers (9-4) looked anything but mid-major in the first 20 minutes Tuesday, hitting 54.8 percent from the floor overall and 50 percent from the 3-point line (5-of-10) while forcing 10 Vols turnovers that led to 16 TSU points.
Down 43-36 at the break after the Tigers ended the half on a 10-1 run, an exasperated Barnes told his team, “They’re not going anywhere. You’re going to have to guard somebody.”
As has been the case most of his career, senior forward Armani Moore took the challenge. Having watched TSU guard Keron DeShields score 11 points and hand out five assists in the opening period, Moore held the redshirt senior to two points and one assist with three turnovers in the second half.
“Armani was the difference,” said UT senior point guard Kevin Punter, who had 23 points, three assists and two steals. “He raised our energy level.”
Added Barnes: “The whole game changed with Armani’s defense on (DeShields).”
Perhaps due to a 1 p.m. weekday tip to satisfy the SEC Network, there wasn’t much energy at the start of the game from the UT players or the announced crowd of 13,214.
“You can’t blame the start time. It was the same for both teams,” Barnes said. “Besides, we’ve been having individual workouts at 10 a.m., so they’re used to playing at this hour.”
Still, the home team never led by more than four points in the opening half and trailed by six (62-56) with 7:10 to play in the game before reserve guard Detrick Mostella scored nine of his 16 points in the final 5:54 on everything from 3-pointers to jumpers to putbacks to dunks.
“Detrick’s an explosive offensive player, but he got himself in trouble in the first half,” Barnes said of Mostella’s four points and one turnover in five minutes of play in the opening period. “But the thing I like about Detrick is that he competes.”
Said Mostella: “I was just being aggressive. The more they played off me, the more I wanted to make them pay.”
As a mid-major, TSU received a five-figure check for playing this game. But it almost cost the Vols much more than money.
“This shouldn’t happen after 12 games, but it did,” Barnes said. “When we get into conference play, everything is going to be ratcheted up. We’re going to have to get a lot better.”
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.