University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
8-9
Middle Tennessee
7-11
Haislip Leads Vols to 74-56 Win Over MTSU
January 21, 2002 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 21, 2002
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By ELIZABETH A. DAVIS
AP Sports Writer
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Marcus Haislip scored 25 points Monday night as Tennessee beat Middle Tennessee State 74-56.
The Volunteers (8-9), playing without starting forward Ron Slay, were down by six points in the first half but started to pull away before halftime toward an easy win.
Brandon Crump added 12 points for Tennessee while Elgrace Wilborn and Vincent Yarbrough each added 10 points. Yarbrough also had 11 rebounds.
Tennessee learned before the game that Slay would miss the rest of the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.
He was injured over the weekend in the Vols' 66-62 win over then-No. 8 Syracuse.
William Pippen, the nephew of the NBA's Scottie Pippen, scored 12 points and Tommy Gunn added 10 for the Blue Raiders (7-11).
The Vols were ahead by 13 at halftime and stretched the lead to 19 after Haislip made a pair of free throws with 16:15 left.
Middle Tennessee got as close as 59-49 with 6:48 remaining, but the Vols answered with a 9-2 run over the next two minutes.
Haislip and Crump, a redshirt freshman, were Tennessee's main post players with Slay gone. They made up for the lost points, but no one brought the same emotion as Slay, who sat quietly on the bench in street clothes.
Slay wore a white headband during games, and most of the players added the head adornment for the first time in this game.
Tennessee scored the last nine points of the first half to take a 44-31 lead at halftime. The Vols would have been ahead by more but were only 3-of-9 from the foul line in the first half.
After going 0-for-6, Wilborn finally made one with 2:41 left in the first half during a 9-0 run.
The Blue Raiders led by six points with 11 minutes to go in the first half after Pippen's 3-pointer. But they could not build on that lead.
