If Tennessee plays as good against the top teams in its own conference as it does against the Big East’s top dogs, the rest of the Southeastern Conference could be in trouble.

Scotty Hopson scored 27 points and No. 13 Tennessee remained unbeaten with an 83-76 victory over No. 3 Pittsburgh on Saturday in a DirecTV SEC/Big East Invitational matchup.

Despite the distraction of an NCAA investigation of coach Bruce Pearl, the Volunteers have been going about their business, building an impressive resume with wins over the Panthers to go along with a triumph over Villanova in the NIT Season Tip-Off championship.

Hopson scored 16 of his points in the first half as Tennessee (7-0) built a 37-25 lead. Melvin Goins added 19 points and Cameron Tatum had 14 for the Volunteers.

Brad Wanamaker scored 21 points and had eight assists for Pittsburgh (10-1), which lost for the first time this season.

Gilbert Brown and Ashton Gibbs each scored 15 points for the Panthers, but they combined to shoot just 9-of-26 from the field.

The game featured 56 fouls and 75 free throws. Pitt, which shot 37 percent (22-of-60) from the field, was just 25-of-44 from the foul line.