Terrence Hill Jr. Scores 19 as No. 11 Tennessee Survives Tennessee State 83-78

Tennessee State showed up in Knoxville as a 27.5-point underdog, a program that had never beaten Tennessee in seven tries and had lost every one of those games on this same floor. The Tigers left without a win again on Friday night, but nobody in Food City Center will remember this one as a tune-up. No. 11 Tennessee held on for an 83-78 victory, Terrence Hill Jr. scored 19 points, and Ty-Laur Johnson made the final five minutes a lot more interesting than anyone in orange wanted.

The Vols led by 15 with 5:29 to play. Tennessee State won the rest of the game 23-13, chopped the margin to five in the final 32 seconds and scored in the final second to finish as close as anyone has come in this series. Tennessee is 3-0. It is also, after three games, a team with real questions.

Tennessee State Lands First

The Tigers did not look like a team that had come to cash a check. Deondrea Lindsey, a Knoxville native, hit a 3 in the opening minute, Johnson made two free throws, and Arterio Morris finished a layup for an 11-5 lead with about 13 minutes left in the half. That six-point edge was Tennessee State's largest of the night, but the Tigers kept answering for a long time after it.

Dai Dai Ames was the first Vol to solve them. Off the bench, Ames buried a 3 at 12:45, scored on a layup, then hit another 3 at 11:27 to put Tennessee ahead 13-11. Ames finished with 11 points, every one of them in the opening eight and a half minutes on three 3s and a layup, and it bought Tennessee time while the rest of the offense found its legs.

It did not last. Presley Patterson, another Knoxville kid who used to play at Rice, answered with a 3. Johnson made two free throws twice, and Morris hit a 3 for a 21-16 Tennessee State lead at 9:34. After Christian Alston hit two more free throws, the Tigers were up 23-19 with 8:29 left in the half.

Hill Flips It in 45 Seconds

That is where Hill took the game over. At 8:20, Hill drilled a 3 and drew the foul, then made the free throw to tie it at 23. Forty-five seconds later, Hill hit another 3 for a 26-23 lead. Seven points in less than a minute, and Tennessee never trailed again.

Tennessee State hung around through the rest of the half, but the Vols pushed it out in spurts. Braedan Lue dunked, Juke Harris hit a 3 and Jalen Haralson made two free throws to finish a 7-0 run and make it 33-25. Lue added another dunk off a Hill assist with 59 seconds left for a 42-34 lead. Aaron Bradshaw, the 7-foot-1 senior who started out at Kentucky, hit a 3 just before the horn, and it was 42-37 at halftime.

The first-half numbers explained why it was close. Tennessee State shot just 10 of 36 from the floor, but made all 12 of its free throws and kept getting second shots. Tennessee shot 46.2 percent and still could not shake a team it was supposed to bury.

The Vols Build It, Then Let It Slip

The second half started like the blowout everyone expected. Tyler Lundblade made two free throws, Hill hit a 3, and Tennessee was up 47-37 in the first 47 seconds. Haralson threw down a dunk, Lundblade hit a 3 and then a layup, and Haralson's free throw at 12:17 made it 58-43.

Tennessee State never folded. Morris scored at the rim, Jayden Jones hit a jumper and Daniel Vieira-Tuck dunked to cut it to 58-49. Tennessee answered with four free throws at the 9:32 mark, two from Lundblade and two from Troy Henderson, and Henderson hit a 3 for a 65-50 lead. When Hill buried a 3 off a Lundblade assist at 5:29, it was 70-55, the Vols' largest lead.

Then Johnson took over. Ajayi Simmons hit a 3, Johnson hit a step-back jumper and a floater, and Jones scored twice in a row on drives. By 3:38, a 15-point lead was down to 73-66. Haralson answered with a jumper and Miles Rubin threw down a dunk off an Ames feed, but Tennessee State would not go away. Johnson converted an and-one with 32 seconds left to make it 78-73, and after Tennessee made three free throws, Johnson buried a 3 with 11 seconds left to make it 81-76.

Lundblade, perfect at the line all night, iced it with two free throws at 0:07. Johnson's layup with one second left was the final word, and Tennessee escaped with a five-point win.

How Tennessee State Made It a Game

The Tigers shot 32.1 percent and still nearly pulled it off, which tells you most of the story. Tennessee State took 78 shots to Tennessee's 53 because it grabbed 24 offensive rebounds, more than it had defensive rebounds (21). The Tigers won the glass 45-43, won the points in the paint 30-24, outscored the Vols 23-10 in transition and turned Tennessee's 17 turnovers into 24 points.

Tennessee won this game at the free-throw line and from deep. The Vols went 27 of 40 at the line and 10 of 28 from 3, while Tennessee State was 8 of 30 from deep. Tennessee also shot 43.4 percent from the field, but 13 missed free throws, 15 of 25 in the second half, kept the door open far longer than necessary.

Johnson was the best player on the floor for long stretches. The senior guard, who has played at Louisville and Wake Forest, scored 22 points on 6 of 15 shooting, made all nine free throws and handed out seven assists. Twelve of those points came in the final 4:49. Jones came off the bench for 13 points and nine rebounds. Morris, the former McDonald's All-American, added nine points, three steals and two blocks, but needed 16 shots to get there. Bradshaw, who entered the night as the Tigers' leading scorer, went 1 of 9 and fouled out with five points and seven rebounds.

The Vols' Numbers Behind the Win

Hill was the difference again. The junior guard went 5 of 11 from the field and 4 of 8 from 3 and added five rebounds and five assists, along with four turnovers. After 17 off the bench in the opener and 18 in the Radford win, Hill now has 54 points in three games and looks like the Vols' most dependable shot creator.

Haralson scored 15 off the bench with four assists before fouling out. Lundblade went 2 of 9 from the field but scored 14 thanks to a 9 of 9 night at the line. Tennessee's bench outscored Tennessee State's 37-30.

The worrying part for Rick Barnes is up front. DeWayne Brown II, who posted 17 points and 17 rebounds in the opener against Wofford, picked up five fouls in eight minutes and finished with no points and one rebound. Rubin played 18 minutes and went 1 of 4 at the line. Without Brown on the floor, Tennessee State attacked the offensive glass all night, and Tennessee had no answer.

Harris remains the other puzzle. The Naismith Trophy watch list pick had 10 rebounds but went 2 of 9 from the field, 1 of 5 from 3 and 3 of 7 at the line. Through three games, the Vols' star has yet to have a real scoring night.

What It Means

Survive and advance applies in November, too. Tennessee is 3-0, and this was a team it should beat, but the margin was the closest in this series since 2015, when Tennessee rallied from a halftime deficit to beat Tennessee State 74-69. The Vols are now 8-0 all time against the Tigers, all eight in Knoxville.

The concerns are obvious. Tennessee gave up 24 offensive rebounds, committed 17 turnovers and missed 13 free throws against a team from the Ohio Valley Conference. Brown's foul trouble left the frontcourt thin, and the Vols allowed 23 fastbreak points. That will not hold up against No. 5 Michigan State, which visits Food City Center on Tuesday, Nov. 17, at 9 p.m.

Tennessee State falls to 2-2, but Nolan Smith's team showed something real. A roster of experienced transfers in Johnson, Morris and Bradshaw went into a ranked SEC building and played with poise. If the Tigers rebound and compete like this in league play, they will be a problem in the OVC.

For the full numbers, see the official box score (opens in a new tab) and Tennessee's game recap (opens in a new tab).

Sources: Tennessee Athletics, Tennessee State Athletics, CBS Sports, Yahoo Sports. More men's college basketball coverage on Undrafted.

Tennessee got the win. Tennessee State got the attention of everyone who watched it.

Photo: Tennessee Athletics.