Tennessee basketball crumbles in Sweet 16 vs underdog FAU in season-ending loss

Mike Wilson, Knoxville News Sentinel
·2 min read
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NEW YORK − Santiago Vescovi walked down the court and motioned for his Tennessee basketball teammates to relax Thursday.

The Vols were unraveling under a Florida Atlantic scoring spurt and failing to find any offensive consistency again. Vescovi tried to stop it. Nothing worked, the vigor that propelled the Vols to Madison Square Garden evidently left behind in Orlando, Florida.

No. 4 Tennessee (25-11) crumbled against No. 9-seeded Florida Atlantic (34-3), losing 62-55 and falling shy of the second Elite Eight in program history with a Sweet 16 loss.

Jonas Aidoo and Josiah-Jordan James led the Vols with 10 points each. Vescovi had nine.

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Tennessee's 3-point defense crumbled in the second half

Tennessee rode elite 3-point defense to much of its success, but it wilted in a critical second-half stretch. FAU guard Michael Forrest hit a corner 3-pointer with UT's defense scrambling to switch. He hit another on the following possession for a 41-38 lead after Tennessee led throughout.

Forrest scored again for a 10-0 run. Aidoo hit a midrange jumper before the Owls went on an 8-0 run, which featured another FAU 3-pointer. FAU struggled to find rhythm on 3-pointers in the first half. It hit its first attempt then was 2-for-13 in the remainder of the half.

Forrest finished with 11 points. Johnell Davis led the Owls with 15 points and Nicholas Boyd added 12.

Florida Atlantic owned Tennessee with rebounding

Tennessee has been one of the best rebounding teams in the nation this season. It wasn't Thursday. The smaller Florida Atlantic lineup dominated Tennessee rebounding the ball for all 40 minutes. The Owls took advantage of long rebounds on 3-point attempts repeatedly.

The Owls finished with a 40-36 edge in rebounding, but had a significant advantage through much of the game. Tennessee closed the gap with 10 second-half offensive rebounds.

Olivier Nkamhoua, Julian Phillips didn't factor in

Olivier Nkamhoua was a star in Tennessee's win against Duke with 27 points. He didn't score until the 5:23 mark of the second half and finished with six points. Freshman Julian Phillips was scoreless in 12 minutes. He had one rebound.

Aidoo and Uros Plavsic carried the load inside. Tobe Awaka played one minute.

Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on Twitter @ByMikeWilson. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee basketball crumbles in Sweet 16 against underdog FAU