Game time, TV set for No. 2 Tennessee vs. No. 7 Texas in the second round of the NCAA Tournament
CHARLOTTE — No. 2 Tennessee’s game against No. 7 Texas on Saturday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament will start at 8 p.m. Eastern Time and will be televised by CBS. The Vols beat Saint Peter’s 83-49 to advance in the Midwest Region at the Spectrum Center after the Longhorns beat No. 11 Colorado State 66-54.
Tennessee (25-8) on Thursday night got 23 points and had a team-eight rebounds from Dalton Knecht in the win over Saint Peter’s (19-14). Jonas Aidoo scored 14 points and added six rebounds and three blocks and Zakai Zeigler had 11 points and 10 assists.
Texas (21-12), which held Colorado to 11 points in the first half Thursday night, got 12 points from both guard Max Abmas and forward Dylan Disu. Chendall Weaver scored 11 points off the bench.
SATURDAY TIP TIMES ARE IN pic.twitter.com/Mjx6tfX6BP
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) March 22, 2024
Tennessee beat Texas in Knoxville last season, lost in Austin two years ago
Saturday will mark the third straight season Tennessee has played Texas, which is set to join the SEC alongside Oklahoma next year. Texas won 52-51 in the Big 12-SEC Challenge in Austin in January 2022 and Tennessee won 82-71 when the Longhorns made the return trip to Knoxville last season.
Tennessee hosted ESPN College GameDay before playing Texas at Thompson-Boling Arena. The Vols led by 12 at halftime and cruised to the 11-point win thanks to 27 points from Olivier Nkamhoua, 22 from Zeigler, 14 from Josiah-Jordan James and 12 more from Santiago Vescovi.
Texas got 21 points from Sir’Jabari Rice and 11 points from both Brock Cunningham and Marcus Carr.
The Longhorns in Austin two years ago were led by 18 points from Courtney Ramey. Zeigler had 12 points off the bench for Tennessee and James scored 11 points. The Vols trailed by 16 with 5:34 left, but rallied to tie the game with a 16-0 run before losing on a Texas free throw with six seconds left.
Rick Barnes won 402 games in 17 years at Texas, taking Longhorns to Final Four in 2003
Rick Barnes spent 17 years at Texas before parting ways with the school in 2015 and getting hired only days later at Tennessee. He took the Longhorns to the Final Four in 2003, to the Elite Eight in 2006 and 2008 and to Sweet Sixteens in 2002 and 2004.
Barnes on Saturday will be looking to lead the Vols to the Sweet Sixteen for the third time since 2019.
Vescovi said on Sunday night after the NCAA Tournament bracket was set that the Vols noticed Texas as a possible opponent in the second round.
“I don’t think anybody said anything about it,” Vescovi said, “but we all kind of saw it.
“As soon as they put Texas, we kind of thought that we were going to be a two seed. And as soon as I saw that bracket pop up before our name, I was like that’s definitely going to be us.”
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