Scotty Hopson leads Tennessee to a big win over Pitt

Back in November, right after Tennessee had finished off then-No. 7 Villanova in the finals of the preseason NIT, we wrote about Scottie Hopson.

Our opinion?

If Tennessee wants to be among the elite teams this season, they need Scotty Hopson to develop into the star that he is has the potential to be.

Saturday afternoon against No. 3 Pitt, Hopson lived up to that potential.

The 6'7" Tennessee small forward scored 27 points, including 14 in a 28-14 Tennessee run to open the game, as the Vols knocked off Pitt on the road 83-76. The final score doesn't do justice to Tennessee's manhandling of the Panthers. The Vols were up by double digits for essentially the entire second half, eventually building their lead up to 21 points midway through the half.

Tennessee was terrific. Melvin Goins made a very good argument for being included in the discussion for the best on ball defender in the country by taking Ashton Gibbs out of the game. Tennessee actually outrebounded Pitt, who is hands down the best rebounding team in the country. The Vols knocked down seemingly every open look they got. And they did all of it on the road. This game, which was part of the SEC/Big East Invitational, was played at the CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh. Its not the Panthers usual home arena (in fact, only three college basketball games have ever been played there, and Hopson currently holds the single game scoring record), but all you had to do was scan the crowd to see who was the home team.

It was an impressive performance, to say the least.

But Hopson was the star.

He sparked the Vols early run that put them up 14 in the first half. He hit a number of huge jumpers that helped to hold off the Panthers as they made a run to cut the lead to eight. He attacked the rim early and often, and it opened up space for him to get good looks from three. He shot 10-13 from the floor and 3-3 from deep.

I said it after the Preseason NIT, and I'll say it again here now -- when Hopson is aggressively attacking the rim, he is one of the best players in the country.

He proved that today.