No. 2 seed Tennessee survived a scare from No. 15 seed Colgate on Friday afternoon. The Vols grabbed a 16-point lead in the last couple minutes of the first half, and they held a 42-30 at halftime.
But the Raiders didn’t go away, and they came out firing from three in the second half.
Colgate erased that 12-point halftime deficit and ended up taking a 52-50 lead with 11:35 left in the game. The Raiders were on fire from distance, especially Jordan Burns. He started out 6-of-7 from three in the game, and he finished the contest with 32 points, three points shy of his career-high he set not even two weeks ago.
But after that flurry by Colgate, Tennessee finally buckled down.
The Vols upped their defense and finally started to get some shots to fall again on offense, and they ended up outscoring the Raiders 27-18 to close out the game. Senior guard Admiral Schofield was 0-of-4 from three before he hit three three-pointers in the final four minutes, including back-to-back daggers in the final minute and a half.
After the game, Tennessee’s players had plenty to say about the Vols’ 77-70 victory over the Raiders.
All video was captured by RTI staff writer Ben McKee
Admiral Schofield discussed his confidence in his three-point shooting, his mindset even when he starts slow, and more.
Grant Williams talked about what he does even when he isn’t getting shots or when his shots aren’t falling, Colgate’s Jordan Burns getting hot from the field, Tennessee guarding threes, and more.
Jordan Bowden discussed guarding Jordan Burns and what he and UT’s other defenders did against him, the Vols’ communication on defense, and more.
Lamonte Turner went in-depth about Colgate’s defensive change to start the second half, how the Vols reacted when Colgate went on their run and took their first lead of the game in the second half, and much more.
Jordan Bone discussed Tennessee’s ability to close out against Colgate, why it might’ve been good for the Vols to have a game like this in the first round, and more.
