No. 7 Tennessee fell to No. 2 Purdue on Tuesday night in the semifinals of the Maui Invitational by a score of 71-67 in Honolulu.
The Vols and the Boilermakers went back and forth in a slugfest on the court that resulted in 78 total free throw attempts after a quick whistle from the officiating crew. The whistle was one of the big impacts in the final stretch of the game as both teams balanced players in foul trouble. The Vols wound up having both Jonas Aidoo and Tobe Awaka foul out after a physical contest in the paint against 7-foot-4 center Zach Edey.
Dalton Knecht finished the game with 16 while Jordan Gainey racked up 15 points on the night, but Tennessee did not have a good shooting night overall. The Vols shot just 33 percent from the floor and 28 percent from the three-point line during the contest. As RTI’s Ryan Schumpert points out in his postgame takeaways, Tennessee made only two field goals in a 17:56 stretch on each side of the half.
Tennessee battled to the end, though, and showed toughness against a very talented Purdue team.
After the game, Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes met with the media to give his postgame thoughts. Barnes spoke about learning from the loss, defending Zach Edey, Tennessee’s defense, and more.
Barnes was also joined by Tennessee guard Jahmai Mashack during the postgame press conference.
More from RTI: Purdue President Takes Shot at Tennessee, Danny White Responds
Check out both the Tennessee and Purdue postgame press conferences from Tuesday in Honolulu below:
Tennessee Postgame (Link will start with Tennessee Presser)
Purdue Postgame (Link will start with Purdue Presser)
One Response
Tenn only needs a great center and they will be awesome