On day of SEC carnage, Tennessee plays like a champion
CHARLOTTE, NC — Colin Coyne didn’t know his own strength.
How else to explain what the senior Tennessee walk-on managed to do to the bracket placard in the Tennessee locker room following the Vols’ 83-49 rout of Saint Peter’s in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night at the Spectrum Center. Expect UT to be the betting favorite when that line opens at various Tennessee sportsbooks.
Coyne was given the honor of posting Tennessee’s logo into the second round, where the Volunteers will meet Texas (8 pm, CBS) on Saturday night. He took the job so seriously he broke the board.
CC with AUTHORITY ??#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/U16ECN8IPC
— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) March 22, 2024
“Every time I saw that board, I thought it was bulletin board material,” Coyne quipped after the win. “I found out the hard way, I guess.”
“He knew what he had to do. (Coyne) broke the bracket. He took the broken bracket thing literal. We weren’t going to let that happen on the floor,” Tennessee senior Santiago Vescovi said of the win.
A literal busted bracket was the only thing Tennessee found out the hard way on a night where they played beautifully, assuring no figurative brackets would be busted, at least in Charlotte. On a first day of the NCAA Tournament that saw 3 SEC teams lose, including 3 seed Kentucky, the Volunteers played like the champions they are, looking every bit the part of a Final Four contender.
Tennessee jumped all over Saint Peter’s, a tournament darling in 2022, storming to a 17-5 lead by the second media timeout, using a 19-2 run to build that lead to 29-7, and never relenting until Rick Barnes put Coyne and the rest of the seldom-used Tennessee bench on the floor to rapturous applause from the Vols’ faithful late.
Vescovi remembered watching the Saint Peter’s run to the Elite 8 in 2022 well, and he wasn’t shy in reminding teammates this week that the Peacocks famous run started by defeating a 2 seed from the SEC, Kentucky, in the opening round. The Volunteers, who entered the NCAA Tournament coming off back-to-back defeats, knew the stakes, and heard the outside noise.
“We know what people think, that we will fold in March. We know about Saint Peter’s, too. We just needed to find our brand of basketball again,” Vescovi told SDS.
The Volunteers did that, imposing their will defensively and limiting the Peacocks to just 29% shooting from the field and 16% from deep. Tennessee’s offense found balance too, thanks to an outstanding opening half from big man Jonas Aidoo, who established the post early to take the pressure off Vescovi, Zakai Zeigler and SEC Player of the Year Dalton Knecht. Aidoo would finish with just 15 points, but he did it on an efficient 5-of-6 shooting and added 3 blocks and terrific defense in helping the Vols take an iron grip of the game.
Vescovi added a pair of big 3-pointers, and Zeigler (11 points, 10 assists) and Knecht (23 points, 8 rebounds) did the rest.
It was a collective effort offensively, which is what the Volunteers are when they are at their best. But it started on defense. That was always the plan, Zeigler said after the victory. After giving up 1.15 points per possession in a Senior night loss to Kentucky in Knoxville and 1.07 in the SEC Tournament loss to Mississippi State, Rick Barnes challenged his starters to lead by guarding first. The Vols spent their first 2 practices after the loss in Nashville emphasizing guarding and toughness, with the message being if you don’t guard, the next 40 minutes could be your last.
The Vols responded, holding the Peacocks to their lowest point total since November, blocking 5 shots, and dominating the glass, winning the rebounding margin 47-22.
“I feel like we had to get our toughness back,” Zeigler told the media after the win. “Tonight, I feel like we did that from the jump. We kept our foot on their necks.”
Knecht agreed, deflecting a question about his 23 points and silky shooting to get back to toughness.
“We scored fine, but we had to be more aggressive and physical,” Knecht said. “Nashville didn’t go how we wanted. We want to keep playing together and for one another.”
To make Tennessee’s first Final Four, these Volunteers will have to find the consistency that helped them rattle off 7 straight wins in SEC play to seize control of one of the nation’s best power conferences. Despite all the attention Knecht rightly receives, at Tennessee, that consistency has always started on the defensive end.
“That’s who we are,” Vescovi said. “We are a team that hangs its hat on stops. What we did tonight is the kind of effort we will need in every game if we want to keep playing.”
If Tennessee guards and rebounds the way they did Thursday night, they’ll keep playing well past this weekend. They might just play longer than any Tennessee team ever has before.