Tennessee’s streak of falling short of Final Four continues as shooting woes prove insurmountable

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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Jahmai Mashack had a towel over his head and tears in his eyes as he walked through a somber Tennessee locker room minutes after the Volunteers’ bid to reach their first Final Four in an NCAA Tournament came to an ugly conclusion.

Chaz Lanier embraced Igor Milicic, then Cade Phillips. Zakai Zeigler moved down the row of stalls hugging his teammates. It was silent. Stunned silence.

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The Volunteers (30-8) never saw this coming, the way their 69-50 Midwest Region final loss to Houston unfolded.

They missed 19 of their first 22 shots and scored just eight points in the first 15 minutes. They were down 34-15 at halftime, the lowest first-half points total in an Elite Eight game since 1979 and the lowest by any No. 2 seed in NCAA Tournament history.

“No, I don’t think you expect it to happen, you know?” coach Rick Barnes said. “I thought our coaches did the job that they always do, preparing our guys, and we came out and, again, we knew it would be difficult.”

Difficult, yes, because they were playing the best defensive team in the country. But this difficult?

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The Vols shot 1 for 15 on 3-pointers in the first half and finished 5 of 29 (17.2%), their third-worst mark of the season. Their overall 28.8% shooting was their second-worst performance. They only scored fewer than 50 points once this season, in a 73-43 loss to Florida.

“They came out aggressive, and it’s really hard to come out of a hole when it’s that deep,” Milicic said. “We pushed, and I feel like in the second half we were the better team. With a great team like Houston, it’s hard to come back from a 19-point deficit.”

The Volunteers, who also lost in the Elite Eight last year, now have made 27 NCAA Tournament appearances without having made a Final Four. Only BYU (32), Missouri (30) and Xavier (30) have longer streaks.

“It’s tough because as badly as we all want it, it always hurts if you don’t get it all,” Barnes said. “I do know this: This team…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/tennessees-streak-falling-short-final-223658909.html

Author : ERIC OLSON

Publish date : 2025-03-30 22:36:00

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