Tennessee basketball coach Bruce Pearl gets credit for his Xs and Os, marketing skills and recruiting abilities, but what about Pearl the psychologist?
He shrugged when it was suggested that Tuesday night's 80-68 Tennessee victory over Marquette was a result of pushing the right buttons on junior center Wayne Chism.
"I don't know about that," Pearl said with a smile, "but I know Wayne played great and we needed that."
Chism scored a career-high 26 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to lead the No. 16 Vols (7-2) to the win over the No. 24 Golden Eagles (8-2) in Nashville.
"Coach Pearl challenged me," Chism said, "and I needed that."
Indeed, Chism hadn't started the past two games after Pearl became disappointed with Chism's lack of consistency this season.
"I've been on Wayne as much as anybody because he is capable of this," said Pearl, who has started six different lineups in nine games. "Will this be a breakout game for Wayne? I don't know, but we all know he has the ability."
Chism knows it, too, and that led to some of his early season frustrations as he tried to figure out how he fits into the Vols' new offensive attack, which went nowhere in an 88-72 loss at Temple last Saturday.
Chism said he didn't think about the situation against Marquette as much as he reacted.
"There has been a lot of talk lately that we're soft, and I had to do something about that," he said. "I had to let some of the emotion out and play with it."
He had an issue with his temper early in his high school career at Bolivar High in West Tennessee, and to counter it, he developed a strategy of smiling and displaying a nonchalant appearance when his insides are churning.
But that has led some to misinterpret that as a lack of competitiveness.
Against Marquette, Chism said he knew the team needed something different from him with captain Tyler Smith struggling and Pearl reinserting him in the starting lineup.
"That meant a lot to me to start again," Chism said. "I had to step it up for coach. Tyler just kind of had his head down early, and he's picked me up before, so I had to be there for him."
As for whether or not it was a breakout game, Chism said he believes so.
"I feel like I got over the hump. Coach Pearl has really helped me out."
(Mike Griffith writes for The Knoxville News Sentinel in Tennessee at www.govols.com)
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