Josh Richardson and Kevin Punter combined for more than half of Tennessee's points and the Volunteers rallied to knock off No. 15 Butler, 67-55, on Sunday.
Richardson scored 20 points and Punter had 18 for the Vols (4-3), who had lost eight straight games against ranked opponents. All 10 players that took the court for Tennessee scored a point.
Kellen Dunham led Butler (8-2) with 16 points and Kameron Woods pulled down 16 boards in the setback.
Punter opened the game with consecutive jumpers. Dunham got Butler on the board with a 3 and Woods threw down a dunk to make it 5-4. The Bulldogs didn't trail again until late in the second half.
Alex Barlow and Kelan Martin made 3-pointers in the final minute of the first half to send the Bulldogs into halftime with a 34-25 lead.
Dunham's 3 early in the second half made it 37-25, but the Vols ran off 12 straight points to tie it at 37. Richardson had eight in a row during the flurry, which Barlow finally ended with a 3-ball at 12:11.
Tennessee finally got over the hump with an Armani Moore layup at 6:15. A minute later, Punter extended the lead to 54-49 with a 3-pointer from Richardson.
Out of a timeout, Derek Reese banked in a triple with just over two minutes left, and Tennessee held on from there.
Game Notes
Tennessee outscored Butler 32-12 in the paint ... Tennessee center Dominic Woodson left the program earlier this week after deciding to transfer ... Butler had won seven of eight non-conference road games.
[SportsNetwork.com]
