Tennessee continues dancing their way through the NCAA Tournament as they advance into to the Sweet 16.
Tennesse Volunteers
The Tennessee Volunteers continue to build momentum despite losing in the SEC Tournament Championship against Auburn.
They advance into the Sweet 16 for the 8th time in program history but the last time this Tennesee team has reached this game was during the 2013-2014 season. In this game 5 years ago, they took a loss to Michigan 73-71.
However, Tennessee comes into this game with a strong win against Iowa this past Sunday, 83-77. Throughout that game, they often led, but going into the 2nd half of the game, the Vols lost their momentum and headed into overtime with Iowa.
The Vols came out hot offensively having 4 players in double-digits. Grant Williams and Admiral Schofield both had 19 points to lead their team.
Although they were still able to steal a win over Iowa to advance to the Sweet 16, coach Rick Barnes was not that impressed with the way his team played on certain possessions.
Coach Barnes had this to say about his team’s performance in their matchup against Iowa.
https://twitter.com/Vol_Hoops/status/1110002739105406976
Tennessee now matches up against the No.3 seed Purdue. Going into this battle Tennessee leads the series 1-0 after defeating the Purdue Boilermakers in the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas.
At that time Tennessee was an unranked team, defeating No.18 ranked Purdue 78-75 in overtime.
If the Vols are able to defeat Purdue this would be the second time in program history moving on from the sweet 16. The first time they reached the elite 8 was in 2010.
Purdue
Purdue comes into this game with a dominating win against Villanova 87-61. With this win, Purdue advances into the Sweet 16. This win was led by Eric Paschall with 19 points.
The Boilermakers comes into this game with a chip on their shoulder after losing to Tennessee earlier in the season.
During this match, a controversial call gave Tennessee the win in overtime, which Purdue was extremely unhappy with. This rematch gives the Boilermakers the opportunity to seek revenge from this loss.
THIS IS #PURDUE!!!! #BoilerUp 🚂 / #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/zrZCBwXsGT
— Purdue Athletics (@PurdueSports) March 24, 2019