Coming into Sunday’s game against No. 1 Gonzaga, Tennessee senior forward Admiral Schofield had never scored 30 points in a single game in his collegiate career. In fact, he’d never scored more than 25 points in a single contest in the over 100 games he’d played as a Vol.
But that changed on Sunday.
Schofield posted a career-high 30 points against Gonzaga on Sunday afternoon, and his career effort spurred the No. 7 Vols to a 76-73 upset victory over the No. 1 team in the country. Schofield carried UT on his back in the second half, scoring 25 of his 30 points in the final half of play. He shot 6-of-10 from three and 12-of-22 from the field, and he hit several clutch shots throughout the later part of the second half.
He nailed a three with just over three minutes to play to knot the game up at 68-all:
The Admiral has ice in his veins: pic.twitter.com/CuOkMWSzKY
— Rocky Top Insider (@rockytopinsider) December 9, 2018
Later, he banked home a three to give Tennessee a 73-71 advantage with just under a minute and a half left in the ball game:
The bank is OPEN pic.twitter.com/1CbepXqXf4
— Rocky Top Insider (@rockytopinsider) December 9, 2018
But he saved his best shot for last.
Schofield took a pass from point guard Jordan Bone and found himself wide open behind the NBA three-point line. Instead of driving toward the basket or stepping up for a closer shot, Schofield let the ball fly from where he stood.
And with 22.1 seconds left, Schofield’s shot found the bottom of the net, giving him his 30th point and Tennessee the decisive score in the game:
Admiral is a bad, bad man: pic.twitter.com/AmUGxExS7W
— Rocky Top Insider (@rockytopinsider) December 9, 2018
Thanks to that bucket and Schofield’s career day, the Vols were able to celebrate a huge victory after the clock hit zero. Tennessee fought back from a nine-point deficit with 6:15 to go in the game to upset the undefeated Zags. It marked the first time the Vols had beaten the No. 1 team in the country since 2010, and it was just the program’s fifth ever win against the top-ranked team in college basketball.
Because of that, Tennessee’s men’s basketball team got to do this at the end of the game:
DOWN GOES NO. 1 pic.twitter.com/r0gTRW8jte
— Rocky Top Insider (@rockytopinsider) December 9, 2018
