University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
7-0
Memphis
2-5
Vols Outlasts Memphis 86-76
December 05, 2000 | Men's Basketball
- Box Score (.htm file)
- Box Score (.pdf file)
Coach Green's Postgame Comments
- Philips Player of the Game
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Vincent Yarbrough scored 23 points and Ron Slay added 17 as No. 6 Tennessee withstood a second-half rally by Memphis for an 86-76 victory Tuesday night.
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| Ron Slay, who tied his career high with 17 points, celebrates a basket and Memphis foul. The Vols won their fifth consecutive game over the Tigers in the series. |
The Volunteers (7-0), returning home after beating West Virginia by one point last Saturday, have beaten the Tigers five straight times and have won 34 straight at home over non-conference opponents.
Tony Harris finished with 16 points, including 8-of-10 from the free throw line, mostly in the final minutes for the Vols. Harris, a senior from Memphis, finishes his career 4-0 against the hometown Tigers.
"This was an important game," said UT head coach Jerry Green. "Memphis may be the best 2-5 team in the country. I was real pleased with the way Ron Slay played coming off the bench to give us an offensive lift."
Memphis (2-5), facing a ranked team for a fifth time this season, never led but was at Tennessee's heels all game, going after rebounds and forcing the Vols to take bad shots.
"We looked like we were afraid to win," said UM coach John Calipari. "We can't have two or three guys playing so badly. Not against a Top 10 team, or in this case a Top 6 team."
Kelly Wise had 17 points for Memphis, which also lost to Temple, Stanford, Utah and Arkansas.
But 24 turnovers proved to be the Tigers' downfall as they led to 23 Tennessee points.
Memphis kept chipping away at the Vols' lead, finally getting it down to three only to see Tennessee increase it back to seven 30 seconds later.
Wise's basket with 7:01 left cut the lead to 64-61, but Slay was fouled twice under the basket on the Vols' next two possessions and made all four free throws for a 68-61 lead with 6:30 left.
Then Yarbrough tipped the ball away from Courtney Trask and took it to the basket on the fast break for a nine-point lead.
The Vols put the game out of reach in the final minutes as Yarbrough made three free throws and Harris added two more for a 79-69 lead with 3:32 left.
The Tigers trimmed the lead to seven twice in the first nine minutes of the second half, but both times the Vols responded with a 3-pointer. Paris London's basket made it 46-53, and Harris followed it with a 3. Then Memphis' John Grice hit a 3, and Terrence Woods followed with another 3 for a 59-49 lead with 11:04 left.
Memphis, down by as many as 16 points in the first half, finished the first half with a 6-0 run and narrowed Tennessee's lead to 44-34 at halftime.
