As the game turned: With a team full of newcomers, Tennessee relied on their veterans down the stretch to carry them to a 70-58 victory over the Texas Southern Tigers.
With Tennessee clinging to a 49-44 lead with 9:37 remaining in the game, senior Josh Richardson and junior Armani Moore scored Tennessee’s next eight points and gave the Vols their first double-digit lead of the game.
“I just looked at the scoreboard and I just knew the game was too close,” Richardson said. “So I had to get a couple of shots up. I got good looks and they fell.”
Richardson began the mini spurt with a ten-foot jumper that gave Tennessee a seven-point lead.
When the Tigers cut lead back down to five again, Moore responded with two layups on Tennessee’s next two offensive possessions to push the Vols lead back up to eight.
Richardson had a layup of his own on the Vols’ next offensive possession, which gave Tennessee a 57-47 lead.
The Tigers never got any closer than eight for the rest of the game.
Hot topic: For the first time since Richardson and former Vol Jarnell Stokes took the court against Georgia on Feb. 4, 2012, the Vols started multiple freshmen when Jabari McGhee and Willie Carmichael trotted onto the court for the opening tip.
According to Tennessee head coach Donnie Tyndall, the two freshmen earned their start in the starting rotation.
“Jabari McGhee played very well against VCU, and Dominic hurt his hand in practice and didn’t have a great practice the day before he hurt his hand,” Tyndall said. “So that position was up for debate. Willie Carmichael was back to the old Willie Carmichael that he was the first month of the school year, so we rewarded those guys.”
While McGhee only saw 14 minutes of playing time and failed to make a field goal, Carmichael contributed 10 points and seven rebounds to the final stat sheet.
Spotlight: Carmichael may not have had the most impressive stat sheet for the game, but he may have had the most impressive play of the game.
With the game tied at 19, Texas Southern’s Nick Shepherd appeared to have an easy dunk.
Enter Carmichael.
Carmichael contested Shepherd’s dunk attempt at the last second, and the result brought a sparse Thompson-Boling crowd to their feet, as the Apopka, Fla., native ricocheted the ball off the backboard and thus was responsible for the game’s first highlight-reel play.
“It was energy going through my body when the crowd went crazy,” Carmichael said.
While he may have energized the crowd, he also prevented Texas Southern from taking the lead.
The Other Guys: David Blanks led the Tigers with 14 points on 3-of-6 shooting from the field.
Say something: Junior guard Kevin Punter on whether he had any influence on the starting lineup song being a Jay-Z’s “Public Service Announcement”: “I don’t even remember, but it sounds good though. Being from New York — I’m from the Bronx, he’s from Brooklyn — I’m far away from home, so if you are from New York you always got to represent.”
Outside the box score: Tennessee has now won 23 consecutive home-opening games. The win also ensured that Tennessee avoided their first 0-2 start since the 1965-66 season.
By the numbers
13: The Vols outrebounded the Tigers by 13 (40-27).
76.5: Tennessee shot 76.5 percent from the free throw line, which is a significant improvement from the 51.5 percent they shot in their season opener.
16: The Vols’ bench contributed 16 points on the night.
