Sifting through Tennessee basketball's bitter Sweet 16 loss vs. FAU | Estes

NEW YORK – Florida Atlantic got into the mud with Tennessee and left the Vols sitting there.

What'll make Thursday’s 62-55 victory for the Owls in the NCAA Sweet 16 at Madison Square Garden especially tough to take for the fourth-seeded Vols (25-11) is that they got the type of game they want to play. Nonetheless, they still blew a huge opportunity against a No. 9 seed from Conference USA.

Here are three observations from another disheartening March end to another promising Tennessee season:

It was muddy enough

So much about the beginning of this game was what Tennessee wants defensively.

The pace was sluggish. The whistles were loose. FAU (34-3) started a chilly 1-for-8 from 3-point range and had eight turnovers – compared to only five made shots – 12 minutes into the first half.

Tennessee led for most of that first half, but never by as much as it should have. The Vols’ chronic lack of proficiency on offense kept the Owls within reach while a lot of the game was seemingly breaking Tennessee’s way. At halftime, the Vols led only 27-22. They were shooting a meager 31.3%. Uros Plavsic was their leading scorer.

All game, it seemed, different Vols kept missed makeable shots of the mid-to-short-range variety. The kind of looks you’ve simply got to convert in this tournament.

Eventually, the Vols started being called for more fouls. Eventually, the Owls also heated up from 3-point range, seizing momentum and taking the lead midway through the second half with a 16-2 run.

Tennessee, at that point, was in big trouble.

Where was Nkamhoua?

After tying a career-high with 27 points in the second round against Duke, Tennessee’s Olivier Nkamhoua went missing in action, being held without a point for the first 34 minutes of the game.

Much of the Vols’ offense ran instead through Plavsic, who was productive at times but failed to get FAU’s center Vlad Goldin in foul trouble – which was an important goal in this game given the Owls’ lack of post depth. Meanwhile, Nkamhoua missed his first five shots and couldn’t get going.

It certainly wasn’t just Nkamhoua. Tennessee needed a hero offensively, and none emerged quickly enough. When a team shoots 33.3% in an NCAA Sweet 16 game, it usually goes home.

Give FAU credit

Tennessee didn’t make shots, but FAU didn’t earn this cheap. So much has been made about Tennessee’s physicality that it overshadowed how well FAU does those things, too. The Owls outrebounded the taller Vols 40-36 and kept playing harder as the game progressed.

The Owls beat the Vols at their own game, making hustle plays and rebounding and defending well. They outplayed the Vols when it mattered most, shutting the door on them when they seized control in the second half.

Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and on Twitter @Gentry_Estes.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Sifting through Tennessee basketball's bitter Sweet 16 loss vs. FAU