Tennessee Men's Basketball Head Coach Previews Pitt Matchup

Bruce Pearl joined Seibel and Starkey on Sportsradio 93-7 The FAN to discuss his No. 11 ranked Volunteers matchup with the No. 3 ranked Panther this Saturday as part of the Big East/SEC Invitational at the CONSOL Energy Center.

Coach Pearl was asked if Pitt should be worried about a couple of his standout stars in Scotty Hopson and fabulous freshman Tobias Harris. He said after watching film on Pitt he doesn't think they have much to worry about with his team; rather, he just hopes to gain respect from them.

When it came to deciding to play against Pitt at the CONSOL Energy Center, Coach Pearl admitted that the commissioner of the SEC sought volunteers to come into Pittsburgh and play the Panthers, but nobody wanted to accept the challenge.  It wasn't until he was approached personally and asked to come to Pittsburgh that Pearl was willing to take on the daunting task of playing the Panthers in a city where they rarely lose.

Coach Pearl also was willing to speak openly about the penalties he is facing for NCAA recruiting violations, including an eight-game ban during his conference play.  Pearl very openly admitted that he made mistakes, but is willing to be held accountable for them.  Coach also said that they did some things wrong, but has since fixed them, and taken unprecedentedly severe measures to punish the program in hopes that the NCAA will not come down harder on them.  Pearl also said it is possible that he could be fired as part of the punishment against the university.