Tennessee struggled to build on its biggest win of the season last time out. Now the team will see how it responds to a loss.
The No. 7 Volunteers appear to have a good chance to bounce back from a rare poor defensive effort Friday night when they visit a Charlotte team which dismissed its leading scorer earlier this week.
Tennessee (7-1) was three days removed from an 83-76 win over then-No. 3 Pittsburgh when it suffered a big letdown Tuesday in an 89-82 loss to Oakland, Mich. It was only the second non-conference home loss in six seasons under coach Bruce Pearl.
"This was a combination of running into a good basketball team and not being able to handle success despite our best efforts to get our team excited about playing," Pearl said.
The Volunteers had come in holding opponents to 66.6 points per game on 36.8 percent shooting. The Grizzlies shot 53.6 percent and went on a 21-6 run to end the game after the Vols led by as many as 13 points in the second half.
It was the first time this season Tennessee allowed an opponent to score more than 76 points or shoot better than 45 percent.
The Vols had four players score in double figures, but leading scorer Scotty Hopson, who was coming off a career-high 27-point performance against Pitt, was held to seven on 1-of-7 shooting.
The Volunteers haven't lost consecutive non-conference games in more than a year and they'll return to the court Friday with additional reinforcements.
Jeronne Maymon, who played nine games for Marquette last season, has been cleared to play. The sophomore forward averaged 4.0 points and 4.2 rebounds in nine games with the Golden Eagles.
Renaldo Woolridge also may be ready to return after missing the previous two games with an ankle injury. He's averaging 11.2 minutes per game.
That kind of added depth could have helped Tuesday, as Tennessee received only 10 points from its bench.
"I don't think we had enough energy," Pearl said. "If you looked at Melvin Goins and Brian Williams, those two guys had great energy. Those two guys did extremely well on both ends of the floor. But we did not have enough guys who brought that kind of energy."
Tennessee has to bounce back on the road, but it may not be such a challenge against Charlotte (4-6), which kicked senior Shamari Spears off the team Tuesday.
Spears, who was averaging a team-high 17.0 points, had been benched in Charlotte's loss to Oregon State on Nov. 24. Afterward, he posted on Twitter that he was contemplating quitting the team. Coach Alan Major then suspended him indefinitely.
It was the third time in two seasons Spears, who had transferred from Boston College, was suspended.
The 49ers have been struggling offensively without Spears, failing to score 70 points in three straight games while shooting 40.4 percent from the floor.
Charlotte is coming off an 82-68 loss to Davidson on Saturday. Derrio Green led the team with 16 points, but Jamar Briscoe, who came in averaging 15.6 points, struggled with an Achilles' tendon injury and was held to eight points on 2-of-11 shooting.
"We've just got to get better," Briscoe told the 49ers' official website. "We have to defend more than 25 minutes."
The 49ers have won three of their last five games against ranked opponents.
Tennessee defeated Charlotte 88-71 on Jan. 6 as Hopson's 17 points led six Vols in double figures.
