Richmond Upsets Iowa in the First Round of the NCAA Men’s Tournament While Emoni Bates Returns to the Floor for Memphis
Tennessee and Michigan’s Round of 32 matchup will tip-off at 5:15 p.m. ET Saturday evening. The Vols and Wolverines will be the third game of the day Saturday and the first game at Indianapolis’ Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Here is the complete schedule for the Round of 32 games on Saturday.
SATURDAY TIP TIMES pic.twitter.com/V1Xr9o4eO6
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) March 18, 2022
Tennessee is back in the Round of 32 after falling in the Round of 64 a season ago. 14-seed Longwood hung with the Vols for the game’s first 10 minutes, but Tennessee’s offense exploded afterwards. Rick Barnes’ seventh Tennessee team shot 14-of-24 from three-point range while exploding to an 88-56 victory.
The Vols moved the ball fantastically, assisting on 29 of their 33 made baskets against the Lancers.
“When you see the assists, when we are moving the ball — again, you go back when I was getting agitated at the end,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said. “We were — too many guys sitting on the ball too much and trying to dribble through a team that’s, I’m telling you, a really solid defensive team.
When we move the ball and we move the parts, that’s when we play our best basketball. We have got guys that can pass and we have got guys that can cut and move without the ball. It’s when we get stagnant is when we bog down. Yeah, I would say that now we are at the top where we are really getting the shots that we practice.”
Michigan finds itself in the Round of 32 as a double-digit seed after knocking off six-seed Colorado State Thursday.
The Wolverines trailed by seven points at the break before outscoring the Rams, 46-27, in the second half. Hunter Dickinson led Michigan with 21 points while Eli Brooks added 17 points.
Tennessee and Michigan have a recent history in the NCAA Tournament. John Beilein and the Wolverines ended Bruce Pearl’s Tennessee tenure with a blowout win in the 2011 Round of 64. Michigan handed the Vols a heartbreaking loss in the 2014 Sweet 16 in Indianapolis.
