The first thing out of Sports Illustrated/CBS commentator/douche bag yesterday was that Tennessee would be upset by San Diego State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Well the Vols shut him up for at least a little while as they beat the Aztecs 62-59 in a slugfest last night to advance in the big dance.
Melvin Goins led the way for the Volunteers scoring a career high 15 points and hitting a clutch (or as Bill Raftery says, "ONIONS"!) three pointer with 14 seconds left in the game to give the Vols a four point lead. Goins then of course gave those three points back after fouling Aztec D.J. Gay shooting a three who then made all three free throws to shrink the Vol lead to one.
It then came down to senior and team leader Wayne Chism who made a pair of free throws with 7.4 seconds left to put the Vols up three. Aztec star Kawhi Leonard then missed a three at the buzzer to give the Vols the win and give head coach Bruce Pearl a nice 50th birthday present.
Yes Goins led the way in scoring, but it was the Vol Seniors who refused to let the team lose. Chism had the clutch free throws and 11 points, Maze added 11 points and played solid defense, while J.P. Prince scored 15 and more importantly played great defense holding Leonard to 12 points on 5-of-15 shooting while also pulling down six rebounds.
Up next for the Volunteers is a second round match up against 14 seed Ohio tomorrow at 3:35 pm. Ohio surprised everyone and ruined many brackets by dominating Georgetown last night 97-83.
I think the Vols will matchup well against the Bobcats. D.J. Cooper scored 23 and Armon Bassett scored 32 for Ohio, mainly from three point range. Good thing the Vols have a great three point defense. If they shut down the three and play great in the post the Vols should be in the Sweet 16.
Enjoy the Madness today and this weekend!
The trouble with looking at Ohio yesterday is that Georgetown just looked so awful, it was hard to tell if Ohio was really that good or if Georgetown was just that bad. I'm hoping for the latter...
ReplyDeleteThe Vols looked pretty good for most of the game. There were a couple of shaky moments where it looked like we might be losing it, but at least they bounced back well from it.
A lot of that goes to SDSU. They were a real good team that probably should have been a 10 or 9 seed.
ReplyDeleteAlso, their head coach Steve Fisher coached Michigan to the 1989 title and was the coach of the Fab 5. A real good win for the Vols. I hope they take the game seriously. With a Sweet 16 shot on the line I think they will be focused.