Tennessee basketball dropped its first game of the 2023 season on Tuesday night as No. 2 Purdue survived a rock fight 71-67.
The Vols led for most the first half but Purdue took the lead early in the second half. While Tennessee tied the game at two different points they never led again as the Boiler Makers held on.
Here’s three quick takeaways on the loss.
Physical, Defensive Grind Of A First Half
Both Tennessee and Purdue came out firing on the offensive end as the Boiler Makers’ led 11-10 five minutes into the game.
That’s when Purdue stopped scoring as the Vols used a 10-0 run in five minutes to take an early lead. But that’s where Tennessee’s offense stopped scoring.
After a pretty quick first few minutes, the tempo of the game slowed down and the physicality increased— particularly on the glass. Not entirely to anyone’s surprise, Purdue dominated on the offensive glass in the first half grabbing 12 offensive board.
But as Tennessee fouled Purdue, the Boiler Makers struggled at the line and Zach Edey missed his first six foul shots. But Purdue eventually got free throws to fall and the Vols couldn’t get any shots to go— including at the foul line where they only made four of their first nine attempts.
And while Purdue kept adding points at the foul line, shooting 26 first half free throws, they still couldn’t get shots from the field to go. In fact, Purdue made only one field goal in the final 14:20 of the first half.
That’s the type of first half it was after the opening minutes as physicality and defense carried the day. But the Vols only leading by one at the break despite Purdue’s poor field goal shooting proved costly.
Tennessee Goes Ice Cold Offensively
We touched on it a bit in the above section, but the Vols offense struggled badly for the first time all season against Purdue. Tennessee totaled just 67 points in the loss with 33% shooting from the field and 27% shooting from three-point range.
The Vols struggled to get offense at the rim against Purdue’s elite defensive front line and shots did not fall from the perimeter for Tennessee.
After starting three-of-five from deep and building an early lead, Tennessee missed its next 10 three-point attempts before Zakai Zeigler finally got one to go.
Not quite to the same extent as Purdue, but Tennessee found a way to hang around in the game by getting to the free throw line and getting baskets that way.
Over a 17:56 stretch on each side of the half, Tennessee made only two field goals— an Awaka baby hook and the previously mentioned Zeigler triple. But the Vols scored 17 points at the foul line over that stretch and that was enough to keep them in the game as Zach Edey battled foul trouble and Tennessee’s defense kept Purdue from opening up the game.
Then when it felt like Purdue would score just enough to keep Tennessee at arms length, the Vols got shots to go. Zeigler scored on a driving layup, Awaka scored two down low and the ice cold Jordan Gainey knocked down two triples to tie the game entering the final minutes.
Tennessee Runs Out Of Big Men
In the midst of this rock fight, there was a battle between Tennessee and Purdue’s front as to who would completely foul out of the game first.
Purdue star Zach Edey spent much of the game on the bench when he picked up questionable second and third fouls and then a clear fifth foul.
Jonas Aidoo and Tobe Awaka spent the entire game battling foul trouble as they tried to tangle with the massive Edey. When Awaka fouled out on a questionable call with just under four minutes to play, it felt like the game would truly come down to who fouled next— Aidoo or Edey.
The answer was Aidoo who was called for a questionable bump of Edey off the ball and fouled out of the game.
The game was tied when the foul occurred but Purdue scored the next five points to take control of the game. Tennessee made on triple to pull within a possession again but it didn’t matter. That made the difference.
Final Stats
Up Next
Tennessee concludes Maui Invitational play tomorrow against the loser of the Kansas-Marquette game. Tipoff is at 2:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
