CHARLOTTE — Scotty Hopson and Cameron Tatum sat in the back of the Tennessee locker room Thursday afternoon and dismissed the word ‘fair.’

For the Volunteers’ players, not much about what has gone on in the Tennessee basketball program has been fair. Basketball or not, violations or not, when UT athletic director Mike Hamilton addressed Bruce Pearl’s job status on a radio show Wednesday, it changed the tenor of Tennessee’s NCAA tournament game against Michigan on Friday.

“You can’t use fair as a word, fair or unfair, life isn’t always fair and not going to give you everything you ask for,” Hopson said. “At the same time, we can’t really worry about the off-court distractions.

“The whole season has been infractions and off-court distractions and it’s something we’ve had to deal with. So right now it’s irrelevant because there is so much going on with the NCAA tournament and that’s our main focus of it.”

Still, he thought the timing of Hamilton’s declaration — something Hamilton texted Tennessee associate head coach Tony Jones apologizing for — was difficult.

The Volunteers were traveling Wednesday to Charlotte and were greeting by more uncertainty than they have had this season.

“The timing of it could have been better,” Tatum said. “But there are only certain things you can control and people should only worry about what you can control and obviously we can’t control the timing of it.”

In Pearl’s surprise, he said he focused on his players and hoped this wouldn’t take away from their NCAA tournament, no matter what happens. Friday’s outcome will likely do more of that.

“I think Mike would have preferred for it to not come out like this,” Pearl said.

But it did — and it became the main storyline in Charlotte on Thursday.

Michigan forward Evan Smotrycz first heard about Pearl’s job being in jeopardy through Twitter when he landed in Charlotte for the NCAA tournament. As Tennessee’s opponent, Michigan’s players have paid attention to it, but aren’t distracted by it.

“We notice it but it’s not distracting,” Michigan junior guard Stu Douglass said. “It could turn around and motivate them, could stir up a lot of emotions but we’re going to prepare like his job was secure for five more years.”

Right now, it isn’t, and as much as Tennessee’s players talked a good game about not being distracted by the Pearl news, human nature says otherwise.

“The timing was tough just because there is so much turmoil and so much stirred up right now but that makes it better motivation,” Hopson said. “When we’re winning, things are a lot better for us so we want the best for this team and this coaching staff.

“So why not just go out and get victories and this will just fuel our fire.”

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein