March Madness: Remembering Vols 5 Sweet 16 games this century

2. 2007 Sweet 16

(1) Ohio State Buckeyes beat (5) Tennessee Volunteers

Final Score: 85-84

We alluded to this one in the Tennessee Vols’ win over the Ohio State Buckeyes in 2010. But three years before, Bruce Pearl’s team suffered what may still be the most heartbreaking loss in the history of the basketball program.

After a splash first season in 2006, Pearl brought in an elite recruiting class and built up the depth with Chris Lofton there to lead the way. But with Lofton getting hurt at one point in the season and only one senior in Dane Bradshaw, the team still struggled with consistency through long stretches of the year.

However, they regrouped and won seven of their final nine games before the Big Dance. In March Madness, they blew out Long Beach State and held off the Virginia Cavaliers to make their first Sweet 16 in seven years.

Rocky Top was very confident heading into the Sweet 16 matchup. The Vols were a No. 5 seed, and they were facing the No. 1 overall seed in the Ohio State Buckeyes. But they had only lost to OSU by 2 off a late three-pointer while on the road earlier in the season. So the confidence was high. And it was for good reason.

Tennessee went off in the first half. Red-hot shooting from everybody built them a 49-29 lead. They went into halftime up 49-32 and looking like they would certainly make their first Elite Eight ever. What’s more, their Elite Eight opponent would’ve been the Memphis Tigers, a team they beat by 17 earlier in the year. So the Final Four was a real possibility.

But an Ohio State team led by Greg Oden and Mike Conley made a very quick comeback. By the 10 minute mark of the second half, it was a back and forth game again. The heartbreak came at the end. Conley hit a free throw to give OSU a 1-point lead. He missed the second, though, and Bruce Pearl made a great decision to catch the Buckeyes and Thad Matta off-guard by not calling timeout.

The idea was not to let the Buckeyes set up their interior defense with Oden. But Wayne Chism made a freshman mistake as Ramar Smith got the rebound and pushed the ball the other way. Chism was supposed to distract Oden, who was on him, by stopping closer to half court. He went all the way to the basket though, so Oden was in place to block Smith’s shot at the buzzer.

It was the heartbreak of heartbreaks. However, at the time, the loss didn’t hurt as bad because everybody was coming back except for Bradshaw. But it still was one that stung Vol Nation for a long time.