Tennessee Vols can get some overdue payback on Tuesday in Hawaii
The Tennessee Volunteers' 2023-2024 basketball season has started off well, as the Vols dispatched with the Syracuse Orange 73-56 in the opener of the Maui Invitational Tournament to improve to 4-0 on the young season. If Tennessee can reach 5-0, then they will have earned a win over one of the best teams in the […]
The Tennessee Volunteers' 2023-2024 basketball season has started off well, as the Vols dispatched with the Syracuse Orange 73-56 in the opener of the Maui Invitational Tournament to improve to 4-0 on the young season.
If Tennessee can reach 5-0, then they will have earned a win over one of the best teams in the country. They will also have managed to avenge one of the most painful losses in Tennessee athletics over the past two decades.
That would be when the 2018-2019 Vols came up short in the Sweet 16 against the Purdue Boilermakers, falling 99-94 in overtime. The loss prematurely ended one of Tennessee's best teams in program history, led by Grant Williams, Admiral Schofield, and Lamonte Turner.
The Vols went 15-3 in SEC play and tied for second in the final conference standings. UT would earn the #2 seed in the South Region, where they won their first two games against Colgate and Iowa by a combined 13 points.
Tennessee trailed Purdue in the Sweet 16 at halftime 40-28, but they rallied from a 17-point deficit to take a late 82-80 lead with 2.7 seconds left. Turner guarded Purdue G Carsen Edwards, who went up for a three-point shot. Turner was called for a very sketchy and seemingly non-existent foul. Edwards went to the line with 1.7 seconds left and made two of three free throws to send the game into overtime, where Purdue prevailed 99-94.
It was one of the biggest and most controversial gut punches in the history of the Tennessee basketball program. The 2018-19 team was talent laden and special, and it was effectively robbed of a chance to play for a trip to the program's first ever Final Four.
Now, the Vols will get a crack at the Boilermakers again, and while the stakes aren't nearly as high, they are still important for Tennessee. Purdue is ranked #2 in the country, so the potential reward is obvious. The Boilermakers also stand between the Vols and the chance at playing potentially #1 Kansas for the Maui Invitational Title. It's the kind of test that, in the final NCAA tournament review, separates the top seeds from the rest.
As such, there's already plenty on the line for Tennessee on Tuesday. However, a little added incentive never hurts.
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