Bruce Pearl to end suspensions for Tennessee PG Melvin Goins, G Cameron Tatum on Sunday

2 Tennessee players to be reinstated to team

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee guards Melvin Goins and Cameron Tatum will rejoin the Volunteers for practice on Sunday after serving suspensions for their Jan. 1 arrests. That doesn’t mean they’ll see the starting lineup anytime soon, though.

“I think those guys are going to be terrific, supportive,” coach Bruce Pearl said on Saturday. “They’re proud of their friends and their teammates, and they’ll work and they’ll get ready and they’ll stay ready.

“The rotations won’t change right away, but it will be great to have them there.”

Pearl said he decided to reinstate the pair after learning more details from the legal investigation and Tennessee’s student judicial affairs process.

Pearl suspended Goins, a junior, and Tatum, a sophomore, along with forward Tyler Smith and center Brian Williams after the four were arrested on misdemeanor gun, drug and alcohol charges during a traffic stop in Knoxville.

Williams, a junior, will remain indefinitely suspended. Smith, a senior, was dismissed from the team Jan. 8.

The four, who have a court appearance scheduled for Jan. 29, combined for 32.2 points, 14.7 rebounds and 7.8 assists in Tennessee’s first 12 games before they were suspended.

Their absence left the Vols with a rotation of six scholarship players and three walk-ons, who banded together to beat then-top-ranked Kansas and Charlotte, Auburn and Mississippi.

Each of the remaining players have played a lot of minutes in those four games, so the added depth with the return of Goins and Tatum should help.

“It will be a big boost,” said center Wayne Chism. “We’ll have two more defensive players coming back on the team, and they love playing defense. We’ve got a lot more weapons coming back.”