'I know my answer': If Olivier Nkamhoua were to speak on the epic Michigan-Tennessee 2022 NCAA Tournament game, here's what he'd say
In March 2022, Michigan Wolverines basketball and Tennessee played a high-level game in an Elite Eight type of atmosphere at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The 11th-seeded Maize and Blue pulled out a 76-68 victory over the No. 2-seed Volunteers to advance to the program’s fifth consecutive Sweet 16.
Graduate forward Olivier Nkamhoua — who transferred from Tennessee to Michigan this offseason — has a unique perspective on the game, to say the least. Nkamhoua underwent ankle surgery that February, forcing him to miss the rest of the 2022 campaign for the Volunteers. He did not suit up against the Wolverines, who took advantage by making enough big-time plays to pull off the upset.
As soon as we brought it up in a Zoom call Saturday evening (July 15), Nkamhoua started smiling and shaking his head.
“There have been many conversations had about that game,” the new Michigan forward said, before tip-toeing around an answer, in jest.
“And I know what my answer to how that game would’ve gone if I played is, but I don’t know if I want to say that anymore, because now I go to Michigan. But I guess the past is the past. If I was to speak on the past, I just remember that, if a specific person played, the game might have ended a little differently.”
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Michigan jumped out to an early lead, but Tennessee battled back and held the edge at halftime. The Volunteers had a six-point lead with less than eight minutes to go, but the Wolverines executed better down the stretch, before center Hunter Dickinson, who dropped 27 points, hurled the ball up into open air as time expired.
The Maize and Blue posted 7 offensive rebounds, including a pair of huge second-half tip-ins by forward Terrance Williams II. Dickinson was on fire, as was guard Eli Brooks, who made a jaw-dropping running hook shot, Zavier Simpson-esque, to put Michigan up four points with just under a minute to go. Brooks finished with 23 points and 5 assists, carrying a big load with starting point guard DeVante’ Jones sidelined for the second half.
“There were a couple of problems on the Tennessee team that could’ve been worked out, and Michigan specifically attacked because of a lack on that Tennessee team,” Nkamhoua continued. “It was smart of Michigan to game plan for what their opponent had.”
Michigan did a great job limiting three-point looks for elite shooter Santiago Vescovi, who went 1-for-5 from beyond the arc, though the Volunteers did miss some open looks and failed to get in a groove shooting the ball, finishing 2-for-18 from deep as a team.
Tennessee was the hottest team in the country entering the NCAA Tournament, winners of eight in a row before playing U-M. The Volunteers shot 42.6 percent from three-point range in the 14 games leading into the matchup, but couldn’t find any luck from behind the long line that Saturday night in Indianapolis.
All in all, though, it was a fantastic college basketball game. It had runs, big plays, two great fan bases and a heck of a finish.
“It was a good game. It was a great game,” the Michigan forward said. “A lot of guys played well. A lot of guys played very hard, everybody played very hard. There were some guys who had some struggles. On our team, there were some guys who couldn’t put the ball in the basket. Sometimes, the shots don’t fall, so they were getting to it on the other end. There were a lot of guys on Michigan’s team who stepped up, played a really hard game, made plays late in the game.
“[Tennessee guard] Kennedy [Chandler] obviously played amazingly, and Hunter — everybody knows what Hunter did.”
So, we guess Nkamhoua did speak a bit on the past. And he concluded with a smile and two simple sentences: “It was a great game. But it definitely wouldn’t have ended the same if I played.”
