Filed under: Tennessee
Seemingly in control but forced to survive a scare in the final minute, the Tennessee Volunteers bested the Belmont Bruins 85-76 in the opening round of the NIT Season Tip-Off South Regional on Tuesday.The final nine-point margin is not indicative of the struggles Tennessee faced, needing free throws from freshman Trae Golden to make it a two-possession game at the 20 second mark - after being ahead by just one with 36 seconds to play.
But Tennessee prevailed, Freshman forward Tobias Harris and junior Scotty Hopson led Volunteer scorers with, 16 and 18 respectively. Cameron Tatum added 14 points to join Harris and Hopson as the only Tennessee scorers to reach double digits.
The play of Harris, one of the SEC's top freshman, and Hopson, a preseason All-SEC selection, are crucial to the success of Tennessee this season. They both took normal shifts in head coach Bruce Pearl's normal 10-man rotation in the first half, but neither rested much in the second half as Pearl was trying put some distance between the Volunteers and the Bruins.
Ian Clark, a sophomore guard and junior Drew Hanlen were two of only three Belmont players in double digits, who had trouble getting in a rhythm all night.
The officials kept both teams out of sync with an inordinate amount of foul calls, especially early. Tennessee had 11 fouls by the 10:06 mark in the first half and the teams combined for 29 first-half fouls. There were 59 fouls called through the entire game.
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