Ray Glier

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Bruce Pearl goes hard to his right. He pivots on the right foot and it's a smoking first step.

It’s not a quick move with the basketball. It’s a quick move with the hook.

Four times in the first half of Tennessee’s opener against Temple, Pearl whirled to his right, looked down his bench, which is 10 players deep with talent, and called for a sub. A slacker on the floor got beat too easily in the half-court defense and Pearl brought the hook.

“You don’t wanna guard, come here, sit right next to me,” Pearl says with a smile. “I’ve got some depth now. They better guard, or they’re out of the game.”

Another smile, and this is one is serious.

“We’re going to play some defense this season,” Pearl said.

For a team that gets turnovers in bundles with its furious full-court defense, there was always safe haven in the half-court against Tennessee in Pearl’s first two seasons in Knoxville. Ohio State proved as much when it rallied for a win during the NCAA Tournament last March.

Now that Pearl can threaten bench time, his team looks a little tougher. Nobody wants to sit, so they play with more steel on defense. They guard above the foul line and if a teammate gets beat they know they better help.

It’s why Tennessee could play Memphis for the national title.

The Vols can score. They can can shoot the three-pointer, they score off full-court defense, they can score in the post, they can score on tips and dunks.

Now, it’s looks like they can make a stop. The Vols took two pretty good Temple players, Mark Tyndale and Dionte Christmas, and clawed at them so much they made just 7-of-26 shots.

“I heard where they said they needed to be tougher on defense,” Christmas said. “They seemed pretty tough to me.”

The Vols won the game 80-63 with their star, Chris Lofton, shooting just 1-of-8 from the field and 0-for-5 from the 3-point line. But Tennessee didn’t need Lofton because Temple made just 39 percent of its shots.

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Pearl seemed to hold back with his full-court pressure. He likes to slap it on here and there, or go to a half-court trap, but against the Owls, Pearl wanted his team to find its way on defense in the half-court, hand-to-hand. So he let them get down and get into it in the half-court as part of the training for the rest of the season.

He still wasn’t satisfied.

“We’re not tough enough as a team,” Pearl said.

Five-on-five, the Vols are simply a Top 15 team. Wayne Chism is an OK center and if Lofton doesn’t shoot well, he is average. Tyler Smith, an Iowa transfer, is the team's best talent, a developing first-round draft pick, but he needs some polish.

JaJuan Smith and Ramar Smith, the starting guards with Lofton, are good players, but not All-Americans.

Yet what makes Tennessee special is 6-foot-6 Cameron Tatum off the bench, followed by 6-4 Josh Tabb, and 6-7 Duke Crews and 6-7 J.P. Prince, an Arizona transfer, who will be eligible the second half of the season.

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