University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
5-6
Wisconsin
7-6
Vols Fall Short Against Wisconsin, 65-62
December 29, 2001 | Men's Basketball
Dec 29, 2001
MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Kirk Penney led a balanced attack with 16 points as Wisconsin used a solid performance from the free-throw line to beat Tennessee 65-62 Saturday.
Mike Wilkinson added 15 points, Travon Davis 14 and Devin Harris 11 for Wisconsin (7-6), which won its fourth-straight game. The Badgers made their first 15 free throws and finished 22-of-26 from the line.
Harris made 1-of-2 free throws with 6 seconds remaining to create the final margin.
Tennessee's Thaydeus Holden missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer that would have tied the game. Ron Slay and Marcus Haislip scored 13 points apiece to lead Tennessee (5-6), which has lost its last three games by a total of six points.
Vincent Yarbrough added 11 for the Volunteers, who were outscored 22-6 from the free-throw line. Tennessee was just 6-of-12 from the free-throw line.
Penney made two free throws with 5:21 remaining as Wisconsin took its biggest lead of the game at 60-53. But Tennessee battled back, as Yarbrough hit a 3-pointer and Haislip scored two straight baskets in the paint.
The second one cut Wisconsin's lead to 63-60 with 1:16 left. Davis pushed Wisconsin's lead to four with 57.8 seconds left, but Jon Higgins' fallaway jumper with 32.7 seconds remaining made it 64-62.
Tennessee had a chance to tie the game after Wisconsin's Freddie Owens had his shot blocked with 22 seconds left, but Haislip missed the front end of a bonus with 7.6 seconds remaining. Neither team led by more than five points in a first half that featured three ties and six lead changes. Davis hit three free throws to give Wisconsin its biggest lead of the first half at 31-26 with 2:55 left.
But Wisconsin didn't score the rest of the half as Tennessee used a 7-0 run to take a 33-31 halftime lead.
