Michigan makes it look easy in Elite Eight rout of Tennessee | Estes
· Yahoo Sports
CHICAGO — Rapid reaction from sixth-seeded Tennessee’s 95-62 loss to No. 1 seed Michigan in a Men’s NCAA Tournament Elite Eight game March 29 at United Center:
That got out of hand fast
Well, Tennessee has been knocked out in the Elite Eight again, and much like last year’s loss to Houston, this was determined before halftime.
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After grappling through a tense start, Michigan began stretching its legs and flexing its muscles. When that happened, Tennessee offered no answer. You could call it another instance of the Vols crumbling on a big stage in March, but this was mostly just the Wolverines being that much better.
Michigan’s 21-0 run to seize control in the first half was domination. On both ends, too. The Vols’ offense went 6:11 without scoring, missing 10 field goals in a row at one point. Defensively, Tennessee couldn’t keep Michigan star Yaxel Lendeborg from 15 of his game-high 27 points before intermission.
At halftime, Michigan led 48-26 and was shooting 51.7% (15 of 29) from the field, while Tennessee was at 23.7% (9 of 38). Meanwhile, Jaylen Carey was Tennessee’s leading scorer in the first half with eight points, which speaks to the offensive struggles of Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Nate Ament, who were a combined 3-of-17 shooting in the first half.
This, suffice to say, was not the first half that underdog Tennessee needed to hang with a legit Final Four-caliber opponent like Michigan. It was the opposite, in fact.
Just not enough for UT
This was a physical game. Tennessee played hard, as usual, and foul totals were high on both ends.
Unlike the Vols’ tournament wins to get here, Michigan was too strong and too skilled to be wrestled into a muddy game. And the Vols didn’t have enough offensively to keep up when Michigan kept beating the defensive pressure, scoring the most any foe has against UT this season.
Gillespie got going after halftime and finished with 21 points, but much of it was with the game already out of reach. Felix Okpara (10 points) was the only other UT player to score in double figures. In likely his final game for the Vols, Ament finished 2-for-12 for seven points.
No let up from Wolverines
Each time Tennessee tried to push back to get into the game the slightest bit, it felt like Michigan pushed back even harder to snuff the Vols’ momentum before it got rolling.
A little 6-0 run late just before intermission got the Vols back to within 15 points, but the Wolverines then finished the half with a 7-0 run, with Trey McKenney sinking a 3-pointer just before the buzzer.
Early in the second half, Gillespie made back-to-back 3-pointers. Lendeborg answered with a dunk and a 3-pointer on the other end as part of a 10-0 run for Michigan.
The crowd? Pro-Michigan
As would be expected in this part of the country, the crowd was in Michigan’s corner. To the credit of Tennessee’s fans, the split wasn’t as lopsided as would’ve been anticipated after the Wolverines’ fan base turned out big for their Sweet 16 win over Alabama.
But the crowd was a factor, especially during the stretch in the first half when Michigan went on an extended run to seize control.
Hat tip to the Vols’ run
Losing in the Elite Eight is difficult. A program doing it three years in a row — while still never having a Final Four in its history — is brutal. But the Elite Eight is still an experience that many fan bases would love to have, and Tennessee was fortunate to have it with this team, disappointing as the final afternoon was against Michigan.
Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at [email protected] and hang out with him on Bluesky @gentryestes.bsky.social
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Michigan makes it look easy in Elite Eight rout of Tennessee basketball