His Volunteers needed a boost.
Donnie Tyndall put it upon himself to provide it.
With his team knotted up at 33 with Texas Southern in the early minutes of the second half, the first-year head began emphatically waving his arms up and down, imploring the home crowd to come to life.
They did, and Tennessee’s defense fed off of it.
In those final 18 minutes of action, the Vols outscored the Tigers 37-25 en route to a 70-58 victory Thursday inside Thompson-Boling Arena.
“There is no way we win that game tonight if it wasn’t for our fans,” Tyndall said. “In the second half, I was encouraging them to get into the game, and we made our run as they were getting loud and into it. We certainly appreciate them. They were a big key tonight.”
The energy of the crowd proved to be a big benefit to Tennessee on the defensive end of the floor. In the second half, the Vols forced nine Texas Southern turnovers after the Tigers only committed four in the opening period.
“In the last eight to ten minutes, we wear on people and we take their legs,” Tyndall said. “I don’t know that we will do that every night against really good competition, but that is certainly what we are going to strive to do.
“In our press, we always tell our guys that it isn’t always about getting traps, it’s about wearing on them. Make them earn every dribble — every bounce is contested — and I thought we did a good job of that in the second half.”
The first, however, proved to be a different story.Tennessee didn’t secure its first lead of the contest until the 7:59 mark of the first half, and could never put together a lead of more than three.
Both teams struggled from the field early on, as UT shot 34.4 percent from the floor in the opening period compared to Texas Southern’s 32.1 percent.
“We knew they were a good team,” junior guard Kevin Punter said. “Give them credit, they are scrappy team and they played hard. The game was tied at half, which we feel like it shouldn’t have been, but in the second half we played a lot better.”
The Vols were led by senior guard Josh Richardson, who finished the night with a game-high 19 points, eight rebounds, two assists and two steals.
But after Richardson and Punter combined for nine turnovers against VCU Friday, the Vols point guard duo honed in on taking care of the basketball against Texas Southern, combining for one turnover.
“We aren’t forcing anything,” Punter said. “We’re relaxed and staying focused. We have great teammates around us that are helping us through that whole process. They’re getting to where they need to get to on the floor which makes it a lot easier for us.”
In total, the Vols had four scorers — Punter (13), Armani Moore (11) and Willie Carmichael (10) — finish with double figures.
Thursday’s contest also marked the UT debut of junior guard Devon Baulkman, who missed the season opener against the Rams because of a left shoulder injury.
The Gulf Coast State College (Fla.) transfer played 10 minutes and scored five points — all of which came in a 17 second span in the first half — on 1-of-2 shooting.
“You can see he’s a good athlete and he can score the ball,” Tyndall said. “He gives us another playmaker off the dribble. We just have to get him defending. There’s no reason he can’t be a good defender because he has good length and athleticism, but that’s just a little bit of a time deal.”
The victory marks the first win in the Donnie Tyndall era, which alleviates some of the pressure felt by these players to secure that first win.
“I think it took the monkey off our back,” Richardson said. “Now we don’t have to worry about how long it’s going to take to get that first win, but now we got one, so we need to go get some more.”
