Tennessee's valiant postseason run ends in Sweet 16
NEW YORK — Olivier Nkamhoua stood at midcourt inside Madison Square Garden and quietly stared.
Less than 100 feet away, Florida Atlantic players climbed on to the scorer's table, celebrating the continuation of a dream season that will extend into the Elite Eight.
For Tennessee players, a postseason run that many outside of the program did not give the Vols much hope of making after star guard Zakai Ziegler's season-ending ACL injury in February had come to an end when just 13 minutes before it was still in their grasp.
The 9-seed Owls reclaimed the lead in the second half thanks to a 20-8 run, knocking down the kind of shots that carried them to the NCAA Tournament and handing Tennessee a 62-55 defeat in the Sweet 16 that it will carry for awhile.
All of the hallmarks that brought the Vols to this point were absent. Where Tennessee dominated Duke in the Second Round, FAU managed to hold the edge.
The Owls won the boards, 40-36 and the Vols had no answers for their aggressiveness down the stretch. Tennessee’s top scorer in Santiago Vescovi scored just 10 points and as has been the case at different points in the season, inconsistency crept up on the Vols.
"(FAU) did a good job of pursuing the ball and we didn't do as good of a job," Nkamhoua said. "They played hard. it's tough whenever guys are getting multiple shots off."
Instead of turning their attention to an Elite Eight clash with 3-seed Kansas State with a chance to play for the program's first Final Four, the Vols sat inside a locker room in the depths of Madison Square Garden dejected.
There are plenty of positives Tennessee can build off in the offseason, such as its ability to overcome injuries to key players and turn what was an abysmal last month of the regular season into a Sweet 16 finish.
Those injuries allowed players like sophomore guard Jahmai Mashack to step into a starting role where he became a contributor. Senior forward Uros Plavsic started all three of Tennessee's tournament games and made the most of it.
But those thoughts will be saved for another day. Tonight, the Vols sulk in their lockers, some staring at the floors, others with towel draped over their heads.
March is full of memorable, cherished moments, but most teams end March like this.
"I'm a confident player, regardless of what's going on," Mashack said. "I know how good I can be, I know how good I am. But it really doesn't matter. We didn't come out with the win. I'm not really thinking about my confidence, I'm thinking about letting those seniors down, letting down those guys that have been here the longest.
"It's really tough for me to come out of there with a loss when I know how bad they wanted it. It's not about me or my legacy or anything like that. It's about the seniors that wanted it."
Those seniors—Nkamhoua, Plavsic, Josiah-Jordan James and Santiago Vescovi will have decisions to make in the coming weeks about their futures. An extra season of eligibility is on the table.
Those conversations will also wait.
"(This season) means everything, honestly," Plavsic said. "It means a lot knowing the trust that this coaching staff and my teammates showed and gave to me. It just humbled me. I couldn't be more proud of them. It just really hurts to go out this way. It's just something that nobody wanted. ...It just really hurts to see us go out this way."
"It meant a lot," Nkamhoua added. "This was really my first experience playing college basketball where I got to play every single game and I got a full year in. It was a great experience. It's very unfortunate it ended how it did."
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