# 2010–11 Tennessee Volunteers basketball team

The 2010–11 Tennessee Volunteers basketball team represented the University of Tennessee in the 2010–11 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. This was the sixth season for Bruce Pearl as the Volunteers' head coach. The team, a member of the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference, played its home games at Thompson-Boling Arena. They were the champions of the 2011 NIT Season Tip-Off. They finished the season 19–15, 8–8 in SEC play and lost in the quarterfinals of the 2011 SEC men's basketball tournament to Florida. They received an at-large bid in the 2011 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament where they lost in the second round to Michigan.
On March 21, 2011, Pearl was fired by the school for lying to NCAA investigators on recruiting violations.

## Class of 2010 Signees

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Tobias Harris F | Dix Hills, New York | Half Hollow Hills West HS | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) | 220 lb (100 kg) | Oct 29, 2009 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 97 ||||||
| Jordan McRae G | Midway, Georgia | Liberty County HS | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | 170 lb (77 kg) | Sep 20, 2008 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 94 ||||||
| Trae Golden G | Powder Springs, Georgia | McEachern High School | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | 190 lb (86 kg) | Sep 16, 2009 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 94 ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: 9 Rivals: 10 ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "Tennessee Basketball Commitments". Rivals.com. Retrieved July 15, 2010. "2010 Tennessee Basketball Commits". Scout.com. Retrieved July 15, 2010. "ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 15, 2010. "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout.com. Retrieved July 15, 2010. "2010 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved July 15, 2010. ||||||

## Schedule

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| November 3* 7:30 pm, SportSouth | No. 23 | Brevard | W 91–42 | — | Thompson-Boling Arena (17,878) Knoxville, TN |
| November 8* 7:30 pm, SportSouth | No. 23 | Indianapolis | L 64–79 | — | Thompson-Boling Arena (16,701) Knoxville, TN |
| Regular season ||||||
| November 12* 9:00 pm, SportSouth | No. 23 | Chattanooga | W 82–62 | 1–0 | Thompson-Boling Arena (20,613) Knoxville, TN |
| November 16* 9:30 pm, ESPNU | No. 24 | Belmont NIT Season Tip-Off first round | W 85–76 | 2–0 | Thompson-Boling Arena (16,783) Knoxville, TN |
| November 17* 7:00 pm | No. 24 | Missouri State NIT Season Tip-Off second round | W 60–56 | 3–0 | Thompson-Boling Arena (16,001) Knoxville, TN |
| November 24* 7:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 24 | vs. VCU NIT Season Tip-Off semi-finals | W 77–72 | 4–0 | Madison Square Garden Manhattan, NY |
| November 26* 5:00 pm, ESPN | No. 24 | vs. No. 7 Villanova NIT Season Tip-Off finals | W 78–68 | 5–0 | Madison Square Garden (7,228) Manhattan, NY |
| November 30* 7:30 pm, FSN South | No. 13 | Middle Tennessee | W 86–56 | 6–0 | Thompson-Boling Arena (17,084) Knoxville, TN |
| December 11* 3:15 pm, ESPN | No. 11 | vs. No. 3 Pittsburgh SEC/Big East Invitational | W 83–76 | 7–0 | CONSOL Energy Center (15,166) Pittsburgh, PA |
| December 14* 7:00 pm, ESPNU | No. 7 | Oakland | L 82–89 | 7–1 | Thompson-Boling Arena (16,784) Knoxville, TN |
| December 17* 8:00 pm, CBS College Sports | No. 7 | at Charlotte | L 48–49 | 7–2 | Time Warner Cable Arena (8,419) Charlotte, NC |
| December 21* 7:00 pm, SportSouth | No. 19 | USC | L 64–65 | 7–3 | Thompson-Boling Arena (19,030) Knoxville, TN |
| December 23* 7:30 pm, SportSouth | No. 19 | Belmont | W 66–65 | 8–3 | Thompson-Boling Arena (17,594) Knoxville, TN |
| December 29* 7:00 pm, CSS | | UT Martin | W 68–62 | 9–3 | Thompson-Boling Arena (17,481) Knoxville, TN |
| December 31* 2:00 pm, ESPN2 | | College of Charleston | L 78–91 | 9–4 | Thompson-Boling Arena (17,794) Knoxville, TN |
| January 5* 9:00 pm, ESPN2 | | No. 21 Memphis | W 104–84 | 10–4 | Thompson-Boling Arena (18,664) Knoxville, TN |
| January 8 1:30 pm, SEC Network | | at Arkansas | L 65–68 | 10–5 (0–1) | Bud Walton Arena (12,044) Fayetteville, AR |
| January 11 9:00 pm, ESPN | | Florida Super Tuesday | L 75–81 $^{OT}$ | 10–6 (0–2) | Thompson-Boling Arena (19,846) Knoxville, TN |
| January 15 12:00 pm, ESPN | | Vanderbilt ESPN College GameDay | W 67–64 | 11–6 (1–2) | Thompson-Boling Arena (21,198) Knoxville, TN |
| January 18 7:00 pm, ESPNU | | at Georgia | W 59–57 | 12–6 (2–2) | Stegeman Coliseum (10,523) Athens, GA |
| January 22* 2:00 pm, CBS | | at No. 8 Connecticut | L 61–72 | 12–7 | XL Center (16,294) Hartford, CT |
| January 26 9:00 pm, SEC Network | | LSU | W 75–53 | 13–7 (3–2) | Thompson-Boling Arena (18,991) Knoxville, TN |
| January 29 4:00 pm, SEC Network | | at Mississippi | W 74–58 | 14–7 (4–2) | Tad Smith Coliseum (8,807) Oxford, MS |
| February 3 9:00 pm, ESPN | | at Auburn | W 69–56 | 15–7 (5–2) | Auburn Arena (6,274) Auburn, AL |
| February 5 5:00 pm, FSN South | | Alabama | L 60–65 $^{OT}$ | 15–8 (5–3) | Thompson-Boling Arena (21,948) Knoxville, TN |
| February 8 9:00 pm, ESPN | | at No. 18 Kentucky Super Tuesday | L 61–73 | 15–9 (5–4) | Rupp Arena (24,334) Lexington, KY |
| February 12 6:00 pm, ESPN | | at No. 17 Florida | L 60–61 | 15–10 (5–5) | O'Connell Center (12,630) Gainesville, FL |
| February 16 7:00 pm, CSS | | South Carolina | W 73–67 | 16–10 (6–5) | Thompson-Boling Arena (18,402) Knoxville, TN |
| February 19 1:00 pm, CBS | | Georgia | L 63–69 | 16–11 (6–6) | Thompson-Boling Arena (20,462) Knoxville, TN |
| February 22 9:00 pm, ESPN | | at No. 18 Vanderbilt Super Tuesday | W 60–51 | 17–11 (7–6) | Memorial Gym (14,316) Nashville, TN |
| February 26 6:00 pm, ESPN | | Mississippi State | L 69–70 | 17–12 (7–7) | Thompson-Boling Arena (20,777) Knoxville, TN |
| March 3 7:00 pm, ESPN | | at South Carolina | W 73–69 | 18–12 (8–7) | Colonial Life Arena (10,137) Columbia, SC |
| March 6 12:00 pm, CBS | | No. 20 Kentucky Senior Day | L 58–64 | 18–13 (8–8) | Thompson-Boling Arena (21,678) Knoxville, TN |
| SEC tournament ||||||
| March 10 7:30 pm, SEC Network | (E5) | vs. (W4) Arkansas SEC First Round | W 74–68 | 19–13 | Georgia Dome Atlanta, GA |
| March 11 7:30 pm, SEC Network | (E5) | vs. (E1) No. 12 Florida SEC Quarterfinals | L 74–85 | 19–14 | Georgia Dome (17,096) Atlanta, GA |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| March 18* 12:40 pm, truTV | (9 W) | vs. (8 W) Michigan NCAA Second round | L 45–75 | 19–15 | Time Warner Cable Arena Charlotte, NC |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. W=NCAA West Regional. ||||||