The seventh ranked Vols gave fans at Thompson-Boling Arena a scare before pulling out a 89–75 win over a Prarie View A&M team that was lights out from beyond the arc.

In the first half, the Panthers jumped out to a 5 – 0 lead. The Vols responded with 7 straight points only to have the lead snatched right back. The Panthers maintained the lead until the second half.

The Vols kept close, only trailing by three to five points most of the half. With the way the Vols were playing, they were fortunate not to be down by much more.

Tennessee's struggles were not limited to one area as they looked sloppy with turnovers, poor shot selection, poor rebounding, missed free throws and trouble handling the Prairie View full-court press.

For the game, the Vols were 21 – 47 from the free-throw line. The Vols put up 18 three-point shots and only made four. Two came from Chris Lofton with less then 10 minutes to go in the game.

At the end of the first half, the Vols trailed by one, 36 – 35.

In the second half, the Vols came out and quickly scored six points to take the lead, and held onto it for the remainder of the game.

However, the Vols were unable to pull away, as the Panthers nailed three pointers all night. For the game, Prairie View made 11 of 19 from three-point range.

Early in the second half, Brian Williams went down with a knee injury. He was able to walk off the court with assistance, but his absence allowed Duke Crews to come into the game and help the Vols' defense.

Crews picked up two big blocks and also added 8 points and 4 rebounds.

Chris Lofton came through when his team needed it most, making his first two three-point shots of the year back-to-back. Lofton's baskets put the Vols up 10 and seemed to be the spark Tennessee needed to close out the game. Lofton finished the game with 14 points.

Tyler Smith finished off the night with a three-point play putting the Vols up 89 – 75. Smith finished the night with a team high 15 points.

Ryan Childress led all bench players with 14 points.

Ramar Smith was the only other Vol player to finish the night in double figures. He had 10 points, despite missing all 12 of his free-throw attempts.