Share
COLUMBUS, Ohio—It’s entirely possible that the Tennessee Volunteers’ 121-86 defeat of the Long Beach State 49ers was the polar opposite of what fans can expect to see from the Virginia Tech Hokies and Illinois Fighting Illini later this evening.
“The tempo was very, very fast,” said Tennessee head coach Bruce Pearl. “The up-tempo brings out the best in both (teams)…I think that we just, physically, had a little more size.”
It’s entirely possible that Pearl’s Volunteers scored more points in the first half, 57, than either Illinois or Virginia Tech may all game. Better yet, the 121 points Tennessee scored was the most by any team in the NCAA Tournament in 17 years.
“I thought we put the fast back in fast-break,” said Tennessee’s Chris Lofton, the junior guard scored a game-high 25 points. “We’re used to playing like that, and when a team plays like that we get excited, and that’s what we did tonight. It was just a fast-break game.”
It’s not even like the 49ers were offensively challenged, they weren’t—they scored 45 first half points of their own. The 49ers were just unable to keep up with Tennessee’s high-scoring pace.
Tennessee had four players finish the first half with double figures in the points column, and six score 10+ points during the game.
It also didn’t help the 49ers that the Volunteers won the turnover and rebounding battles..
With the win, the Volunteers advance to play t University of Virginia Cavaliers. Tip-off from Nationwide arena is Sunday at 12:10 p.m.
Leave a comment 0 Comments Write a letter to the editor
All letters to the editor must include a name, e-mail, daytime phone number and affiliation to Virginia Tech. Affiliation includes: year and major for students; position and department for faculty and staff; current city for alumni and parents.