Men's Basketball Faces Tennessee
12/4/1998 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
PITTSBURGH (AP) - No. 20 Pittsburgh has defeated some of the top teams in the country this season, but Panthers coach Ralph Willard thinks his team is in need of a wake-up call before they play Tennessee Sunday.
Willard scheduled a mandatory practice for 6 a.m. Friday, a day after the Panthers (7-1) slept through a 78-64 win over winless Prairie View.
"They'd better have their Visine out, too, because they're going to be watching this film for a while," Willard said.
The Panthers shot 35 percent against Prairie View, including 6-for-29 from 3-point range. Pittsburgh's Vonteego Cummings, the Panther's leading scorer, missed 11 of 14 shots and was held to only 10 points.
Isaac Hawkins and Ricardo Greer were the only Panthers to show up. Hawkins scored 22 points with 17 rebounds and Greer had 13 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.
"Isaac played great, but that was about it," Willard said. "He came out prepared and ready to play, and nobody else did. There's no excuse for the way we played tonight, no focus, no intensity, no emotion, that's no way to get better."
Tennessee (5-2) is riding a three-game winning streak and is 5-0 at home this season. Dating back to last year, the Volunteers have won their last nine games at Thompson-Boling Arena, the Volunteers' longest win streak in the building's 12-year history.
The Volunteers have been winning because of their depth, with four players averaging in double figures this season. Isiah Victor leads Tennessee in scoring with an 14.6 average, followed by Tony Harris (12.3), C.J. Black (10.6) and Brandon Wharton (10.4).
Tennessee and Pittsburgh meet for just the third time, and first since 1981. The series is tied at 1-1 with each school winning by one point at a neutral site. The Volunteers defeated the Panthers 84-83 in the first round of the 1961 Evansville Invitational, while Pittsburgh took a 55-54 decision in the 1981 Far West Classic in Portland, Ore.