NEW YORK – Tennessee knew exactly what it was going up against on Thursday night.
Once you reach the NCAA Tournament, any team can be beaten on any given night. When you get as far as the Sweet 16, that’s even more true.
As for the Vols, their hands were already full going up against a Florida Atlantic team that had won 33 games coming in. The Owls made it clear that they weren’t backing down from anyone – and that was again made evident.
Despite holding a 27-22 lead at halftime, FAU – the Conference USA regular season and tournament champion – outscored Tennessee 40-28 in the second half to ultimately earn a 62-55 win over the Vols at Madison Square Garden and advance to the Elite Eight.
"Congratulations to Florida Atlantic," Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said in his postgame press conference. "Good basketball team, played well. I just really congratulate them. ... Certainly proud of the effort these guys have given all year. Proud of our team for being in this position."
The Owls – who no one expected to still be playing basketball on March 23 – were the ones to end Tennessee’s season. Meanwhile, FAU will now be facing Kansas State in Saturday’s Elite Eight with a spot in the Final Four on the line.
Tennessee battled throughout the first half and did what it needed to do to limit FAU’s offense. That’s what led to it being a low-scoring, five-point contest at the break.
It was the second half – one that was highlighted by the Owls knocking down some big-time shots – that doomed the Vols.
"They made shots they had to make," Tennessee guard Santiago Vescovi said. "They got big offensive rebounds."
After Vescovi knocked down a 3-pointer to put Tennessee up 33-26 at the 16:36 mark, FAU pretty much took over from there – using a momentum-swinging 20-4 run to build a double-digit lead.
The Owls never looked back, and the Vols would never be able to catch up to the Conference USA team on a mission.
"When they started scoring, our offense wasn't very good," Barnes said. "We needed to continue to put pressure on them at the rim – and we didn't do enough of that. They got some separation and got relaxed."
As for Tennessee, a 25-win season Is nothing to be ashamed of – by any means. Especially when the Vols lost starting point guard Zakai Zeigler to a season-ending injury and suffered a number of tough and disappointing losses.
"Even to make it this far is a blessing," Tennessee forward Josiah-Jordan James said. "People counted us off after the second game (loss to Colorado in Nashville). We didn't listen to it. We stayed resilient. I know we're proud of ourselves."
The bottom line? Florida Atlantic was the better team on Thursday night. Could the script been flipped had Tennessee been fully healthy? That's certainly a question that could be asked.
"We haven't had a healthy team since February 8," Barnes said. "When you ask me if we improved (throughout the season), we did. There's no doubt we improved or we wouldn't be here today."
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