March Madness: Three takeaways from Tennessee Vols’ upset loss to Michigan

Another March Madness, another upset loss by a Rick Barnes-led team. As a No. 3 seed, Tennessee basketball lost to the No. 11 seed Michigan Wolverines 76-68 in the Round of 32. The Vols have been to four NCAA Tournaments under Barnes, and all four times, they were eliminated by a lower seed.

UT closed out the first half in strong fashion to lead Michigan 37-32, and they seemed to have control up 60-54 at the eight-minute mark. However, Michigan took control down the stretch. They went on an 11-2 run to take the lead for good. Multiple missed shots by the Vols in the final few minutes cost them.

With the win, Michigan advances to the Sweet 16 and will face the winner between the No. 2 seed Villanova Wildcats and No. 7 seed Ohio State Buckeyes. The Vols finish the season 27-8. This is the second time they were a No. 3 seed that lost to a No. 11 seed in March Madness. Here are three things we learned from their loss.

1. Tennessee couldn’t buy an open shot late.

Finishing 2-of-18 from three on its face is bad enough. The Vols have been prone to those types of games on the year. However, Michigan was committed to shutting down the three, and they had the bigs to shut things down inside. UT made up for it with Kennedy Chandler and Josiah-Jordan James cashing in on the midrange.

Chandler finished with 19 points, and James had 13 points playing this style. Late in the game, Michigan was forced to respect the midrange, and Juwan Howard mixed in a zone. That’s when the three-balls were open, and they still didn’t fall. Zakai Zeigler missed two wide open corner threes late, Santiago Vescovi was 1-of-5 from the field, and James himself was 0-of-6.

2. Defense got wrecked inside.

A fear of this game was the start was that the Vols didn’t have a lot of experience dealing with bigs like Hunter Dickinson on the year. March Madness exposes teams’ weaknesses. They certainly did that to Rocky Top this time out. UT couldn’t compete with Michigan in the post.

Dickinson finished the game with 27 points and 11 rebounds. Adding insult to injury, Moussa Diabate finished with 13 points. The inside mismatch was evident from the start, and Diabate further exploited that with three blocks. UT’s defense did force 15 turnovers, but it didn’t outweigh what happened in the post.

3. Ball movement wasn’t the problem.

Part of this was, once again, the Vols having the right game plan to overcome Michigan’s zone and the way they committed to stopping the three. but Rocky Top moved the ball well enough to find lots of open shots. Many of them just didn’t fall, as mentioned earlier.

UT finished the game with 15 assists and just seven turnovers. Chandler had nine on the day in addition to his 19 points, doing everything he could to take over. However, if shots don’t fall, you’re going to be prone to upsets in March Madness, and that’s what happened here.