USA - Summitt brings cheers to Volunteers

KNOXVILLE (NCAA) - Legendary women's basketball coach Pat Summitt revisted her cheerleading days to support the Tennessee men's team against Florida on Tuesday night.

Summitt was keeping a promise to respond to men's coach Bruce Pearl, who earlier this season painted his chest orange to cheer on the Lady Vols from the student section against Duke.

A straight copy of Pearl's antics was never on the cards for Summitt, however.

"I just knew painting my chest wasn't an option," Summitt said in the Knoxville News Sentinel.

Instead, the 54-year-old Summitt - the NCAA's all-time wins leader among coaches with 940 - went back to her time as a high school cheerleader to don the UT colours and perform school fight song Rocky Top along with assistants Holly Warlick and Nikki Caldwell during the first media timeout of the game.

The performance concluded with Summitt climbing on to the shoulders of some of Tennessee's regular cheerleading crew to create a pyramid display.

The night should certainly change some opinions of Summitt, more commonly known for her icy stare courtside.

"There will be people who criticise it," Summitt said. "Some criticised Bruce. How can you criticise what he did?

"I did this for Bruce Pearl and his basketball team and all the great Tennessee fans."

It was a big night for Tennessee basketball as Super Bowl MVP and former Vols football star Peyton Manning was among a crowd of 24,047 - the seventh largest crowd in school history - that cheered their team to a crucial 86-76 win over reigning NCAA champions and chief rivals Florida.

The win keeps Tennessee on track for an at-large bid to this year's NCAA Tournament.

As it was senior night, it was fitting that the Vols' sole graduating player Dane Bradshaw had a big night.

He scored eight of his 10 points in the second half and came up with a crucial steal as Tennessee hung on down the stretch as a once-massive lead was whittled down by the Gators.

Tennessee outscored the Gators 26-6 in the paint en route to grabbing a 37-19 lead with less than six minutes remaining in the first half.

Shockingly, that cushion ballooned to 58-31 on a three-pointer by Bradshaw before Florida finally came alive.

Using a full-court press to speed up the tempo, the Gators went on a 21-4 run, closing within 69-61 on two free throws by Walter Hodge with 6:07 left.

However, Chris Lofton, who scored 21 points, answered back with a jumper for the Vols, starting a 6-0 run.

Despite being the team's top player, Lofton had some struggles in the closing moments when he missed two free throws trying to add to a 79-69 advantage with 1:42 left.

Sensing a possible change in momentum, Florida raced down the court for a shot, but Bradshaw burst into a passing lane and was fouled collecting one of his two steals.

The 6ft 4in senior then sank both of his free throws for an 81-69 advantage that just about wrapped up Tennessee's first undefeated home season since 1975-76.

"This was a very significant night because we added to the history of this arena," Pearl said. "Very few crowds have been larger than this, and with remodeling coming up, there will not be any crowds larger than tonight's attendance.

"Peyton Manning talked to the team before the game. Some do the talk, and some do the walk. Manning does it as an alumnus and supporter of UT. For him to attend this game is significant."

Since absorbing a 94-78 loss at Florida on February 3, the Vols have reeled off six wins in their last seven games.

"We are playing well after being dominated at Florida," Pearl said. "Everybody on this team is growing up. Our team is fresh and hungry."

For Florida, the defeat is the latest in a worry stretch - the Gators have now lost three of their last four games to blow any hope of a number one seeding at the Big Dance.

Coach Billy Donovan believes his players have forgotten about their roles on the team, and that was the root cause of the 20 turnovers of Tuesday, adding to 37 in the losses to Vanderbilt and Louisiana State.

"I see guys maybe trying to do too much and not sharing the ball very well," he said.

"I think we have guys trying to take too much upon themselves, trying to help the team and do too much. Tonight, you could see that by the number of our turnovers.

"We always have been a team that has had great ball movement and really played off each other very well."

Al Horford had 17 points and 10 rebounds and Corey Brewer and Chris Richard had 12 points apiece for the Gators, whose 20 turnovers led to 28 points for the Vols.

Frenchman Joakim Noah, the Most Outstanding Player of last year's Final Four, overcame a slow start to finish with eight points and 11 rebounds.  

It was the third straight game where Noah, the team's fourth-leading scorer at 12.0 points, failed to crack double digits.

Ian Parker
FIBA