After Tennessee won its first SEC Tournament title since 1979, Coach Rick Barnes declared during the celebration in Tampa: “Four more.’’
One down, three more to go.
Thanks to a brilliant shooting effort and balanced scoring, third-seed Tennessee (27-7) routed No. 14 seed Longwood (26-7) 88-56 Thursday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Four more, of course, means a trip to the Final Four.
For Tennessee’s program, the Final Four is the Holy Grail.
It’s not for Duke or Kentucky or North Carolina or Kansas or UCLA.
Those blue bloods have combined for 86 Final Four appearances.
Kentucky (17) has more Final Fours than the rest of the SEC combined (14). (Arkansas has made two Final Fours as an SEC school, six overall.)
But for a UT program that has never tasted Final Four success, making it to New Orleans would be a crowning achievement.
Tennessee, an 18-point favorite, was terrific against the Lancers.
After taking a slim 16-14 lead, Tennessee went on a 13-2 run and claimed a 54-29 halftime lead. John Fulkerson keyed the early start with 11 points off the bench in the first 9 minutes.
The Vols led by as much as 36 against the outmanned Lancers.
Tennessee shot a blistering 67% in the first half, and had 18 assists to three turnovers in the first 20 minutes.
For the game, UT shot 60% and made 14 of 24 3-point tries.
Santiago Vescovi led the Vols with 18 points on 6 of 8 from 3-point range. He tied Chris Lofton’s record for most 3s in an NCAA tournament game. Vescovi added seven assists and four steals.
Josiah-Jordan James chipped in with 17 points and 9 rebounds.
Fulkerson had 15, 13 in the first half.
Kennedy Chandler added 13 points, five assists, five rebounds and four steals.
Tennessee set several school NCAA tournament records: Most assists (29), most steals (13) and best field-goal percentage. The 32-point margin of victory was the second most ever.
Tennessee advances to face Michigan (18-14) in the second round Saturday. The 11th-seed Wolverines overcame a 15-point first half deficit to beat Colorado State 75-63 behind 54.2% shooting. Michigan also won the battle of the boards, 36-25.
It’s worth noting that Barnes, who has made one Final Four as a coach, told his team four more wins in Tampa.
It takes six to win a national championship.
If UT makes it to the Superdome, you can bet Barnes will change is goal.
The No. 3 seed Tennessee basketball team begins NCAA Tournament play Thursday in Indianapolis, taking on No. 14 seed Longwood as part of the South Region at 2:45 p.m. ET inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Fans can catch Thursday’s game on CBS and online or on any mobile device through the CBS Sports app. Ian Eagle (play-by-play), Jim Spanarkel (analysis) and Jamie Erdahl (reporter) will have the call.
Fans can also listen live on their local Vol Network affiliate to hear Bob Kesling and Bert Bertelkamp calling the action. A national radio broadcast is also available on channel 135 on Sirius and channel 202 SiriusXM.
Vols F Brandon Huntley-Hatfield / Credit: UT Athletics
On Sunday, Tennessee (26-7) claimed its first SEC Tournament championship since 1979 with a 65-50 win over Texas A&M. Santiago Vescovi led Tennessee on Sunday with 17 points on four made 3-pointers. Josiah-Jordan James contributed 16 points and 10 rebounds for his third career double-double, while Kennedy Chandler had 14 points, seven assists and four rebounds.
Super senior John Fulkerson scored eight points and had a career-high-tying 12 rebounds.
For his performances in Tennessee’s wins over Mississippi State, Kentucky and Texas A&M, Chandler was named SEC Tournament MVP, while James and Vescovi received SEC All-Tournament Honors. Chandler averaged 14.7 points and 5.0 assists per game while shooting 50 percent from 3-point range (6-for-12) and sporting a 5.0 assist/turnover ratio during the tournament.
In total, Tennessee trailed for just 68 seconds during its three SEC Tournament games en route to the conference title.
Tennessee’s inclusion in this year’s NCAA Tournament marks the fourth straight NCAA Tournament that the Vols have made. Tennessee has never previously faced Longwood (26-6)—winners of this year’s Big South Conference Tournament.
With a win Thursday, Tennessee would advance to face the winner of No. 6 seed Colorado State (25-5) and No. 11 seed Michigan (17-14) on Saturday. Time and television network for Saturday will be determined following Thursday’s games.
THURSDAY’S MATCHUP • Founded in 1839, Longwood University is a public college located in Farmville, Virginia. With an enrollment of 4,800, the Lancers are members of the Big South Conference. • Tennessee has never previously faced Longwood, but the Vols are 28-0 all-time vs. current members of the Big South Conference. • Rick Barnes also has never faced Longwood as a head coach, but he, too, is unbeaten against Big South teams (23-0). • Longwood is riding the nation’s fifth-longest active win streak—eight games. • The Vols and Lancers have two common opponents this season. Tennessee won home games against Presbyterian and USC Upstate. Longwood also was perfect against those intraconference foes, beating Presbyterian once and USC Upstate twice.
STORYLINES • Tennessee is riding a seven-game win streak and has won 12 of its last 13 contests. • The Volunteers captured their first SEC Tournament championship since 1979 last weekend in Tampa. • True freshman Kennedy Chandler was named SEC Tournament MVP. • The Vols played an NCAA-best (tied) 18 Quad 1 games this season, winning 11. Only Kansas has more Quad 1 wins (12). • Tennessee stood at No. 7 in the NCAA’s selection NET ratings. Each of UT’s seven losses are Quad 1. • According to KenPom, the Vols rank third in the nation in adjusted defensive efficiency, allowing only 86.2 points per 100 possessions. • Tennessee’s scoring defense of 66.4 ppg in SEC play was the best in the league. The Vols have held 10 of their last 12 opponents to fewer than 65 points. • The Vols are 7-7 against this year’s field of 68. See Page 3 for more.
SATURDAY SCENARIOS • Tennessee has never faced Colorado State. The Vols are 12-3 all-time against current members of the Mountain West Conference. • Rick Barnes is 3-1 as a head coach against Mountain West opposition, with no meetings against the Rams. • Tennessee’s all-time series with Michigan is tied, 5-5. That includes two NCAA Tournament clashes, both won by the Wolverines (2011 and 2014). The 2014 meeting took place in the Sweet Sixteen at Indy’s Lucas Oil Stadium. • Barnes has faced Michigan only once as a head coach, as his Texas squad fell to the Wolverines in the third round of the 2014 NCAA Tournament in Milwaukee. • Barnes is 30-31 all-time against current members of the Big Ten. • Tennessee owns a 7-8 record in NCAA Tournament second-round games. • Barnes is 9-6 in the second round.
TENNESSEE IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT • The Vols are making their 24th all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Big Orange own a 22-24 (.478) NCAA Tournament record. • The Vols are 1-0 in the First Four, 13-7 in first-round games, 7-8 in second-round games, 1-0 in third-round action, 1-7 in regional semifinals, 0-1 in regional finals and 0-1 in the now-defunct regional consolation round. • This is the program’s fourth NCAA berth under seventh-year head coach Rick Barnes. • Tennessee’s 24 NCAA Tournament berths tie LSU for fourth-most among SEC teams. • Since 2010, among SEC programs, only Kentucky (31) and Florida (19) have won more NCAA Tournament games than Tennessee (10).
VOLS vs. THE FIELD OF 68 • Prior to the tournament, the Vols played 14 games against 10 different teams comprising the field of 68, going 7-7 in those contests. • The wins came against Arizona (1), Auburn (2), Kentucky (2), Arkansas (4), LSU (6), and North Carolina (8). • The average margin of victory in those seven wins was 9.1 points.
UT HOOPS HISTORY IN INDIANA • Tennessee’s first collegiate basketball appearance in the state of Indiana came on Dec. 20, 1958, when the fifth-ranked Vols suffered an 81-66 loss to Butler at Butler Fieldhouse (now Hinkle Fieldhouse). • The Vols own a 3-9 all-time record in Indiana: 1-5 in Indianapolis, 2-3 in Evansville and 0-1 in West Lafayette. • Tennessee has played six NCAA Tournament games in Indiana, going 2-4 (1-3 in Indy). • In the 1982 NCAA Tournament, Tennessee defeated Southwestern Louisiana (the Ragin’ Cajuns) before losing to Virginia at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. Then in the 1983 NCAA Tournament, Tennessee beat Marquette before falling to Louisville at Roberts Municipal Stadium in Evansville. In the 2014 Sweet Sixteen, UT dropped a 73-71 contest to Michigan at Indy’s Lucas Oil Stadium. The attendance of 41,072 at Lucas Oil stands as the largest crowd ever for a Tennessee basketball game. And most recently, the Vols fell to Oregon State in a first-round matchup last year at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indy. • Rick Barnes‘ previous NCAA Tournament head coaching experience in Indiana occurred in 2005 —when his eighth-seeded Texas Longhorns fell to ninth-seeded Nevada at Indy’s RCA Dome—and last year’s Oregon State first-round game.
TENNESSEE AS A NO. 3 SEED • Tennessee is competing as a No. 3 seed for just the second time in program history. • Tennessee went 1-1 as a No. 3 seed in 2018. The Vols defeated Wright State before falling to Loyola Chicago at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
VOLS IN THE SOUTH REGION • This is the fifth time UT has competed in the South Region (2000, 2007, 2018 and 2019). • The Vols reached the Sweet Sixteen in three of those NCAA Tournaments, competing as the No. 4 seed in 2000, the No. 2 seed in 2007 and the No. 2 seed in 2019.
BARNES’ NCAA RÉSUMÉ IMPRESSIVE • Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes has guided four different programs to a total of 26 berths in The Big Dance. He led Providence and Clemson to three berths each before guiding Texas to 16 tournament appearances in 17 years. This is his fourth appearance with the Vols. • Barnes in 2018 became the 13th head coach ever to lead four different programs to the Division I NCAA Tournament. • Barnes has led his teams to seven Sweet Sixteens, three Elite Eights and one Final Four, in 2003. • In Tennessee’s 112-year hardwood history, the Volunteers have made just 24 NCAA Tournament appearances (two fewer than Barnes). • From 1995 through 2016, every player Barnes coached for four years made at least three trips to the NCAA Tournament.
VOLS-LANCERS CONNECTIONS • What are the odds that Tennessee and Longwood both would feature players from Helsinki, Finland? Oddly enough, Volunteers junior Olivier Nkamhoua (injured) and Lancers sophomore Jesper Granlund both hail from Finland’s capital. • The Freshman of the Year in Longwood’s conference (Big South) is the son of first-year Tennessee assistant coach Justin Gainey. Jordan Gainey scored 16 and 13 points in USC Upstate’s two losses to Longwood this season.
TRIO HONORED BY SEC COACHES • Three Vols garnered SEC postseason honors from the league’s head coaches, announced March 8. • Junior guard Santiago Vescovi earned a spot on the All-SEC first team, while freshman point guard Kennedy Chandler was a second-team selection. • For the second straight season, two Vols landed on the SEC All-Freshman Team, as Chandler and Zakai Zeigler made the eight-man squad. • Zeigler also was selected to the five-man SEC All-Defensive Team, becoming only the fourth Vol ever to earn that honor.
ALL-TOURNAMENT ACCLAIM • Three Vols were voted to the five-man SEC Tournament All-Tournament Team in Tampa, Florida. • True freshman point guard Kennedy Chandler was named Tournament MVP after averaging 14.7 points and 5.0 assists with a 5.0 assist/turnover ratio. • Junior wings Josiah-Jordan James (14.0 ppg, 6.3 rpg) and Santiago Vescovi (12.0 ppg, 3.0 apg, 2.0 spg) also earned All-Tournament acclaim.
On not receiving a No. 2 seed for the NCAA Tournament… “Well, you know, I think it is what it is. We can discuss it and talk about it – I told Tom – I’m here today to talk about this and what I do. I do believe that after Selection Sunday that the chairman or people of the committee should have to have a national day of press conferences so that (the media) can ask questions, not just for two or three minutes, from people that really cover college basketball throughout (the season). When you look at it, to answer your question, everybody said that we were a 3-seed going into the SEC Tournament, so it doesn’t look like the tournament helped us. Certainly, I don’t understand how a team in the SEC that wins 12 games like Texas A&M, and is playing great basketball at the end (of the season), not being in the tournament. It just baffles me, it really does. If that’s the way it’s going to be, if the conference tournament doesn’t mean anything and the teams that are already slotted in the tournament cannot improve their seeding, we should stay at home and let the teams that are trying to get into the tournament fight for that one bid; that gives our league a chance to get more. So, those are the questions I really think should be asked and answered. There’s people out there much more thorough than I am, in terms of looking at résumés and all that. From a coaches standpoint, this is what we have and we’re going to go from here, but on a national level and for our game, maybe a press conference where tough questions have to be answered helps people going forward. If it’s scheduling people are doing, they can take care of that themselves. Like I said, it is what it is. We’ve got to go play basketball and I’m proud of our guys for their effort that they’ve put in all year long and to have the chance to be a part of this is what we work for.”
Vols HC Rick Barnes / Credit: UT Athletics
On the SEC Tournament being evidence of playing their best basketball at the end of the season… “Yeah, I do think we did some good things. Each game had its own challenges, but we did a lot of good things. I thought, especially yesterday, we knew we were going to have to do a good job of knowing – we had a couple of games playing our traditional big lineup, subbing two guys at a time – with A&M playing a small lineup we would play that lineup as long as we could and then size down to our small lineup. I thought the guys did a really good job against a team that was playing as well as any team in the country and should be in the tournament. We guarded the ball well and certainly they had four days where they just fought like crazy and they fought yesterday till the very end. I thought our guys really did do a good job of perimeter defense and trying to really guard the basketball.”
On the four-guard-plus-Fulkerson lineup used at the end of games… “When Fulky (John Fulkerson) is really locked in and playing well and doing the things that he can do, we can get him the ball around the elbow area, guys cut off of him. Our movement has been good, we’ve become a team that is moving and cutting, moving those parts around. That’s when we are playing our best basketball and he, and our post guys really in general, they all know basketball pretty well. Knowing that they were playing the matchup zone they were in, doing the different things, and we finally got settled down and we were really just trying to keep our movement going. But, he was good in that area. We like it when he can get some space there to work with.”
On his first conference title since 1994… “Well, one, I think it is extremely hard to win a regular season championship, it’s hard to win conference tournaments. All leagues are different, I mean I can sit and talk about all the different ways that things play out through the years. Honestly, when you get to be my age and you look around and have a group of guys like we have – and I have had so many wonderful, I mean just unbelievable players – I know how hard they work. Now I will tell you, and I’ve said it before, I made the mistake many, many years ago of making it about me and I was wrong, dead wrong, in that. But now, it truly is about the players. I guess I’ve matured, I’ve grown up with them. I love it, I love the way those guys celebrated because they deserve it. A lot of emotion came out there because this year, we weren’t perfect. We had ups and downs within our program that we had to deal with, but when you see it coming together and the effort that these guys put in it and the respect that they really do have for each other. This group will someday be brought back here, I won’t be here, but they’ll be brought back and be honored for many, many years to come and that’s something that they will be remembered (for). They will be conference champions for forever. There will be a bond there that they will look back one day and, when they children and grandchildren, it will mean even more to them.”
On Josiah-Jordan James’ performance during the tournament… “He’s played good, Josiah and Santi (Santiago Vescovi), both of those guys don’t get the credit for what they do on the defensive end. What they do, I mean Josiah’s block there was an incredible block. What Santi had to do guarding (Quenton) Jackson yesterday, I mean that kid played an incredible tournament. Santi, we were going back-and-forth about putting Santi on him with how important he is to us. Both of those guys just went at it with each other. So many people look at steals and things like that when they talk about defense, but it’s the fix-it plays that Jo did, even when he’s not making shots. But when he’s starting to play at all three levels like he is, that’s the player that we know he can be. I think he’s just getting started for how good of a basketball player he can be.”
On playing an unfamiliar opponent in the NCAA Tournament… “I think, looking at it, I don’t know a lot about them right now, but Longwood is a guard-heavy team with experienced players. I know how hard it is to go through a league when you only lose, what, one game and win a championship. We all know how the transfer portal works, too. Every game is going to be a hard game, the scouting report and all three games this past weekend were different. Our guys have learned how to adapt to that quickly, but we will get busy with it tomorrow. I wish our tournament would end on Saturday. You think about it, we end on Sunday, late, get back here. We were flying back through the selection show, then we turn around and get put in an early afternoon game, but that’s the way it is. That’s why I wish, as a league, we would look at moving our tournament (championship) to Saturday, which will be hard to do because it has been brought up so many times. I think everybody in our league, certainly coaches, would like it to be that way.”
On the off the court reason the Vols have been successful this year… “I think anytime you win and you’re successful, it’s leadership. I talked a lot about it yesterday, when we ended last season, the first thing we talked about was leadership. I said ‘we can’t move forward until we get more from within the program and you guys are willing to lead each other and some days talk to each other in a way you don’t know how to do.’ It’s hard to be a leader, it’s hard to be a team where you are willing to, not in a bad way, but be able to say to someone ‘man, that’s a tough shot. Take care of the basketball.’ Those kind of things ‘hey, you’ve got to block out,’ because often times when you deal with young players they’re like ‘hey, worry about you’ or whatever. So, we ended our season talking about it, and we started this year during the summer talking about the same thing. Then, as you go through a year, injuries creep in, outside voices that these guys hear from their different camps that they deal with. The leadership is what brought us to it, and it did come from within, it really did. We went through, like every team and I think every team goes through it, thinking of Josiah and Santi and they lead in different ways. Uros (Plavsic)’s voice became a big voice. I can go down the line with so many different guys. Zakai (Zeigler), the way he came in and brought something that we didn’t know all about it, his DNA has had a tremendous effect on this team and, certainly, Kennedy (Chandler) and the way he has continued to grow. Victor Bailey Jr., you can’t ask for a better teammate than him. For a guy that certainly has been a big part of our program, I’d be disappointed if he and the other guys on the bench didn’t want to play for us, because they want to play, but for them to encourage their teammates… I walked into the locker room last night, right before the team went out there on the floor and VJ Bailey had Uros in a corner just saying ‘hey man, you got to get every rebound, do you understand?’ I mean VJ was telling him. When you get that kind of interaction with a team, that’s when you know you’ve got something special.”
On the idea that late in the season is all about guard play… “There’s a lot more, I mean you’ve got to have terrific guard play. You’ve got to be able to defend the 3-point line, you’ve got to take care of the basketball. I mean it’s a team sport and because of that, I mean, everybody is valuable. When you go up against a team that’s got all guards and you run into a matchup where the other team is really big, either they’ve got to size down to you or if you don’t have big guys, what do you do? So, I think it’s all important and I think the mindset of continuing to get better, like tomorrow is an important day for us. It’s a big day of preparation and we wanted these guys to enjoy what they accomplished yesterday, but they know and I know what our ultimate goal has been. The fact we are there with a chance to go after it is where we want to be.”
On how his role changes when he is playing with another post player versus being the only post player on the floor… “I guess it’s really just going from the 4 to the 5. I guess my role really is the same, just a different position. I think the biggest change with that, whether I’m playing with Josiah (James) or Uros (Plavsic), is probably on the defensive end. When you ask that question, the thing that comes to mind is rebounding on both ends of the floor at the 4 and the 5, I think that’s the most important thing.”
On how Sunday’s SEC championship compares to winning the SEC regular season title in 2018… “As bad as I hate to say it, it felt a lot sweeter yesterday. And that’s no discredit to the championship that we had in 2017-18 and those teammates. But this one was a lot sweeter and I was a lot more emotional I think maybe because I have a bigger role on this team compared to that team, but it was great. Both of them were really good.”
On if he thinks this past weekend was Tennessee’s best basketball and why he thinks Tennessee has continued to improve all season… “I would say we’re definitely playing some of our best basketball right now and we’re really meshing and playing well together. As far as us getting better, I would say first of all, credit to our coaches for pushing us. That’s what coach Barnes says a lot, is just getting better, getting better, getting better. I think that kind of goes to us as players and listening to what they say, but also just buying in. Everyone buying into their role, having each other’s backs and knowing what all we can accomplish if we play together and try to get better every day.”
The Tennessee Volunteers held a 40-minute practice/shootaround at Gainbridge Arena in Indianapolis where they will play in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Vols G-F Josiah-Jordan James / Credit: UT Athletics
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The only program to appear in every NCAA Tournament, the University of Tennessee women’s basketball team received confirmation that it had earned its 40th consecutive postseason bid Sunday night when the bracket was revealed on ESPN.
UT also learned it will serve as a host for the NCAA First and Second Rounds for the first time since the 2017-18 campaign. This will mark the 18th occasion the Lady Vols have hosted the NCAA First and Second Rounds since that format was instituted in 1994.
March Madness / Credit: UT Athletics
The Lady Vols (23-8) are seeded No. 4 in the Wichita Region. UT will face No. 13 seed University at Buffalo (25-8) in the first round on Saturday, March 19, in Thompson-Boling Arena. Tip time and TV info. will be announced later. This will mark the first meeting between these programs.
No. 5 seed Oregon (20-11) will meet No. 12 seed Belmont (22-7) in the other first-round contest in Knoxville on March 19. The winners of the first-round match-ups will face off on Monday, March 21. Time and TV info. for that contest will be announced later as well.
The Lady Vols, who are 126-31 all-time in NCAA play, are the only school to appear in all 40 tournaments, winning eight national championships. They also have recorded the most games played (157) and victories (126) in tournament history.
Buffalo, meanwhile, is making its fourth overall NCAA appearance. The Bulls, who are coached by 10-year veteran Felisha Legette-Jack, previously made the field in 2016, 2018 and 2019. UB is an automatic qualifier by virtue of winning the Mid-American Conference Tournament Championship.
The Lady Vols are 31-2 in NCAA First-Round games. The only blemishes are opening-round losses to Ball State (71-55) in Bowling Green, Ky., on March 22, 2009, and to UCLA (89-77) in College Park, Md., on March 23, 2019. UT is 23-0 all-time when playing first-round contests in Knoxville.
Tennessee is making its second NCAA appearance under third-year head coach Kellie Harper. The 1999 UT graduate and LVFL last year became just the second coach to lead four different women’s programs to the NCAA Division I Tournament. She did so at Western Carolina, NC State and Missouri State before checking that box in Knoxville a season ago. She would have done so in 2020 had the tournament not been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Harper joined Jim Foster (St. Joseph’s, Vanderbilt, Ohio State, Chattanooga) in that rare company, but she was the first to do so at her alma mater.
Tennessee, ranked No. 19/17 this week, was the third-place finisher in the SEC during the regular season at 11-5 and advanced to the semifinals of the SEC Tournament before falling to eventual champ Kentucky.
Buffalo finished second in the MAC in 2021-22 at 16-4 before capturing the league tourney crown. UT is 8-1 all-time vs. schools currently in that league, with the lone loss coming to Ball State in the 2009 NCAA Tournament.
Tennessee played 15 of the 68 teams in the 2022 NCAA Tournament field this season and owns a 10-6 record vs. those squads. UT captured victories over Arkansas (twice), Georgia, Kentucky, Ole Miss, South Florida, Southern Illinois, Texas, UCF, and Virginia Tech, and it fell to Florida, Kentucky, LSU, South Carolina, Stanford and UConn.
Hours after capturing the SEC Tournament Championship, Tennessee learned its NCAA Tournament draw Sunday.
The Volunteers (26-7) earned a No. 3 seed for the second time in program history (also in 2018) and will travel to Indianapolis, Indiana.
Tennessee’s first-round opponent in South Region action is 14th-seed Longwood on Thursday. Two days later, the winner of that game will then face the winner of the first-round matchup between six-seed Colorado State and 11-seed Michigan.
The Vols have never previously faced Longwood (26-6)—winners of this year’s Big South Conference Tournament.
This is Tennessee’s 24th all-time NCAA Tournament appearance, while Vols head coach Rick Barnes is making his 26th appearance as a head coach.
Tennessee has played four NCAA Tournament games in Indianapolis, going 1-1 in 1982, 0-1 in 2014 and 0-1 in last year’s tournament.
Pac 12 Champion Arizona is the No. 1 seed in the South Region.
University of Tennessee students can purchase NCAA Tournament tickets starting Monday, March 14 at 9 a.m. ET via BigOrangeTix.com.
Vivid Seats is the official Tennessee Athletics ticket resale marketplace, which offers a 100 percent buyer guarantee and secure transactions backed by full-service customer care.
Vescovi led Tennessee on Sunday with 17 points on four made 3-pointers. James contributed 16 points and 10 rebounds for his third career double-double, while Chandler had 14 points, seven assists and four rebounds.
UT celebrates in Tampa / Credit: UT Athletics
Super senior John Fulkerson scored eight points and had a career-high-tying 12 rebounds.
After trailing by as many as 14 points in the first half, Texas A&M used a quick spurt out of halftime to cut Tennessee’s lead to five points at the 16:10 mark on a 3-pointer from Tyrece Radford—the smallest deficit that the Aggies had faced since the opening minutes of the game.
However, Tennessee did not let Texas A&M draw any closer—immediately responding with a 12-2 run to extend its lead back to 15 points. The last nine of the 12 points during that run came from Vescovi, who hit two 3-pointers and sank three straight free throws from another 3-point attempt that he was fouled on.
Between Vescovi, James, Chandler and SEC All-Freshman Teamer Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee made six of its first seven 3-point attempts of the second half.
After Vescovi’s nine straight points, Texas A&M drew no closer than 11 points.
Out of the gates, Tennessee was red-hot, building a 14-0 lead by the 15:16 mark. The fast start was aided by three made 3-pointers—one each from Chandler, James and Vescovi.
Following its slow start in which it missed its first eight shots, Texas A&M steadily climbed back into the game, responding to Tennessee’s early 14-0 lead with a 10-2 run to cut their deficit to six points.
The Aggies were unable to draw closer than six points in the first half, entering halftime facing a 29-20 deficit.
UP NEXT: Tennessee will await Sunday evening’s Selection Show to learn its seeding and draw for the NCAA Tournament. The 2022 NCAA Tournament Selection Show will air Sunday at 6 p.m. ET on CBS.
VOLS NOTCH W NUMBER 26: Sunday marked Tennessee’s 26th win of the season—tied for the fourth-most wins in a single-season in program history. Tennessee has won 26 or more games six times in program history. Three of those six seasons have come under the direction of seventh-year head coach Rick Barnes.
VESCOVI MOVING UP SINGLE-SEASON 3-POINTERS LIST: With four made 3-pointers during Sunday’s win, Santiago Vescovi moved into seventh place on Tennessee’s all-time single-season made 3-pointers list. Vescovi has 95 made threes in 33 games this season.
CHANDLER ASCENDING SINGLE-SEASON STEALS LIST: With one steal Sunday, Kennedy Chandler brought his season total to 68—moving him into sole possession of third place on Tennessee’s all-time single-season steals list.
Last month Dolly Parton, along with 16 other musical acts, was nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame – but today (March 14th) the country legend is asking fans to no longer vote for her…
Dolly has been in the top 5 of vote getters since the online fan polling started.
In her message Dolly mentions possibly recording a Rock & Roll album…which would add to her long list of musical releases – that includes her recent 48th studio album Run Rose Run.
The new album ties in with Dolly’s novel which she co-authored with James Patterson, also titled Run, Rose, Run.
The book is the story of a young woman who leaves her home with the dream of making it big in Nashville while a dark secret from her past threatens everything she’s tried so hard to achieve.
Dolly says, “It was a dream of mine to write this new book Run, Rose, Run with James Patterson and I am thrilled to share this new music that was inspired by it.”
Dolly & James recently appeared on CBS Sunday Morning to talk about the collaboration.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s country, rock & roll, books, movies or whatever…anything Dolly puts her efforts into becomes iconic.
