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Saturday, Dec. 4 12:00pm ET
Vols wear down short-handed Panthers | |||||
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BOX SCORE
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Tennessee saw this so often last season: a halftime deficit in a hostile building, its confidence shaky and its game in disarray. It happened again Saturday. Only this time, an inconsistent and tentative first 20 minutes were only the half of it. Tennessee wore down depleted Pittsburgh in the second half with its size, depth and Tony Harris' 3-point shooting and the 18th-ranked Volunteers turned a 12-0 run into a 76-50 victory. The Vols (6-0), coming off five easy home victories against weak opposition, played five freshmen but still got off to a better start on the road than a year ago, when they dropped their first three away games. "We weren't as confident shooting the ball in the first half," said coach Jerry Green, whose Vols trailed 27-23 at halftime. "Not as confident as we are in practice or at home with everybody rooting for us. It wasn't an easy road game with a lot of young players, but I told them not to panic because we weren't in a place to panic." They didn't. Ten Volunteers scored in a balanced offense led by Harris' 14 points and Isiah Victor's 12 points and seven rebounds. The Vols hit 11 of 25 3-pointers -- 8-of-12 in the second half -- to 1-of-15 for Pitt (4-1), which made 31 3s in its first four games. Down to six healthy scholarship players due to injuries and academic problems, the Panthers visibly wore down as 6-foot-9 Chris Seabrooks was the only Pitt player to score for nearly 17 minutes of the second half. During that span, his teammates were 0-for-15. At the other end of the floor, Tennessee seemed to gain confidence with every possession. Harris made three of Tennessee's eight second-half 3-pointers as the Vols outscored Pittsburgh 53-23 after halftime. "Because of fatigue, we were just out there in the second half," said Seabrooks, who has played more minutes in five games than he did all last season. "I think our zone defense really hurt them in the first half but, in the second half, we were late getting out there on them and getting a hand up." Despite the 26-point final margin, Tennessee trailed by as many as six points and never led until Harris' first 3-pointer of the half made it 32-31 with 16:34 to play. Harris hit another 3 with 10:08 remaining to start the 12-0 run that turned a 44-42 lead into a more comfortable 56-42 margin with 8:25 remaining. Pitt coach Ben Howland could not match Green's frequent substituting, and the results were evident. Jarrett Lockhart scored only two of his 16 points in the second half and Ricardo Greer, averaging 20.9 points, was held to six points on 3-of-16 shooting. Vols guard Jon Higgins added three 3-pointers and was effective defensively against Greer in the second half. Pitt's starters played at least 36 minutes each, and Seabrooks sat for only one minute. With 6-7 freshman Donatas Zavackas out with a foot injury, walk-on Griffin Abel was forced to play 13 minutes. "It's difficult to press, execute well and set up your offense when you're playing only six players," Victor said. Isaac Hawkins, who had 20 points and 13 rebounds in Pitt's 56-53 loss at Tennessee last season, has a broken leg and may not return for at least another month. "It's hard when there's not a lot of depth," Green said. "Your players are going to get tired and everyone is going to pressure you full court. I think Ben Howland is making the most of what he has to work with." Vincent Yarbrough also hit a 3 during the 12-0 run and freshman Ron Slay twice scored on putbacks as the Volunteers outscored Pitt 30-8 over the final 10 minutes. Yarbrough added 11 points, six rebounds and four blocked shots as the Vols outrebounded Pitt 42-37 and had 11 blocked shots to Pitt's two. After Greer scored Pitt's first basket of the second half, no other Pitt player except Seabrooks scored until freshman Brandin Knight's basket with 2:48 remaining. "Their press just wore on us," said Howland, whose Northern Arizona team last season led Division I in 3-point shooting. "We had a lot of fatigue. I don't want anyone playing more than 30 minutes, but we have no choice. Tennessee came in waves and they substituted often." Pitt finished 19-of-60 (31.7 percent), including 9-of-30 in the second half, to Tennessee's 45.3 percent. Tennessee was 20-of-35 (57.1 percent) after halftime. | ALSO SEE Mens College Basketball Scoreboard
AUDIO/VIDEO   Isiah Victor slams home the missed shot.avi: 799 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Ricky Greer finds the open path to the bucket.avi: 935 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 | |||||