Tennessee is a 5-seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament, the NCAA selection committee announced during CBS’ hour-long selection show on Sunday evening. The Vols will play 12-seed Oregon State on Friday in Indianapolis.
If Tennessee beats Oregon State, it’ll advance to the second round and play the winner of 4-seed Oklahoma State and 13-seed Liberty. Illinois is the No. 1 overall seed in Tennessee’s region. Tipoff times and the venue in Indianapolis in which the games will be played at have not yet been announced.
The Vols are in the NCAA Tournament for the third time during the Rick Barnes era. Barnes’ 2017-18 squad that made the big dance lost to Loyola-Chicago in the second round, while his 2018-19 squad lost to Purdue in the Sweet Sixteen.
Oregon State is coming off a 70-68 win over Colorado in the Pac-12 Tournament Championship Game. The Beavers are 17-12 on the season and went 10-10 during Pac-12 play. They needed three wins in three days to end a four-year NCAA Tournament drought.
The Beavers are led by guards Ethan Thompson and Jarod Lucas, the team’s only two players who average double-figures. Thompson averages 15.3 points per game, while Lucas averages 12.9 points, respectively. Warith Alatishe is the team’s leading-rebounder (8.5 rebounds), while averaging 9.9 points.
