4. Men’s basketball beats No. 1 ranked Gonzaga
Tne 2018-2019 season for the Tennessee Vols men’s basketball program was clearly an epic one and a great coaching job by Rick Barnes. But part of it was matching numerous peak accomplishments the program had enjoyed in the past.
One of those was beating the No. 1 ranked team in the nation. The Vols had done that before, but it was rare, and it hadn’t happened since they beat the Memphis Tigers in 2008. In December of 2018, however, this team was looking special. Their only loss was in overtime to the Kansas Jayhawks.
So they scored a matchup with the Gonzaga Bulldogs, who had already beaten Zion Williamson and the Duke Blue Devils and were atop the rankings at the time. The game was in Arizona, but it was basically a home crowd for Gonzaga. And the Vols were without Lamonte Turner.
Barnes’s team didn’t care. Grant Williams did his part with a 16 points and 12 rebounds double-double. Jordan Bone played his role as the point guard with nine assists. Kyle Alexander and Yves Pons were the scrappers with six rebounds apiece. And Jordan Bowden was the guy to provide the scoring off the bench with 11 points.
But Admiral Schofield was the star. In undoubtedly his greatest college basketball game ever, Schofield dropped 30 points and was six-of-10 from the three-point line. After being down the whole second half, Schofield hit the three to tie it up, he hit a jumper when they were down by three to make it a one-point game, then he hit the three to put them ahead.
Oh, after Gonzaga tied it up one last time at 73, Schofield then hit another three with 25 seconds left. Then UT held on with defense to win 76-73. A clutch performance by Schofield and great team play made this win one of the top moments in the Tennessee Vols’ 2018-2019 athletic year.