Tennessee basketball is looking to get over the Sweet 16 hump on Friday night as they prepare to face No. 3-seed Creighton in Detroit.
The Vols are back in the Sweet 16 for the 10th time in program history but they have made it to the Elite Eight just one time. Creighton is in a similar spot as a program. The Blue Jays are in the Sweet 16 for the sixth time in program history but are looking to make the Elite Eight for the second time since the tournament field expanded.
It’s a Sweet 16 matchup with major stakes. Here’s everything to know before Tennessee basketball faces Creighton in the Sweet 16.
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How to Watch – No. 2 Tennessee (26-8, 14-4 SEC) vs No. 3 Creighton (25-9, 14-6 Big East)
- Start Time: Approximately 10:15 p.m. ET/9:15 p.m. CT
- Location: Spectrum Center
- TV: TBS/truTV. PxP: Andrew Catalon. CC: Steve Lappas, Sideline: Evan Washburn
- Online Streaming: Watch TBS Live
- Radio (Knoxville): The Vol Network/The Vol Network App
Betting Lines
- Tennessee -3 Creighton
- Over/under: 144
- Tennessee -2 Creighton
- Over/under: 144
What Tennessee HC Rick Barnes Said About Creighton
On what stands out about Creighton
“Well, there’s a number of different things. Obviously, one, transition. They’re a really terrific team in transition. Discipline. They really have, I think, a high level basketball IQ. They know each other so well. They know what they’re looking for. They know to play within the rhythm of what they do. Just an extremely sound team defensively. They do a great job of helping each other.
I’ve known Greg for a long time, coaching against him in the Big 12, and just a terrific basketball coach. His team, I think, plays the way he wants them to play.”
On Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner, Tennessee’s experience playing against elite big men
“Again, he’s a terrific rim protector. I think, when they use him on the offensive end where he facilitates, he sees the floor, great feel for his teammates and what he wants to do. I think he does a really good job of finding his space where he wants to be effective.
We’ve played against players, like you mentioned, but they’re all different. He’s a tough cover for our post players, and obviously their drop coverage that they use. He’s just kind of daring you, what are you going to do here? Forces you into making the right decision. But he’s a person that you’ve got to give a lot of attention to.”
On Creighton’s Baylor Scheiermann and Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht being examples of the good parts of the transfer portal
What Creighton HC Greg McDermott Said About Tennessee
On Creighton’s Baylor Scheiermann and Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht being examples of the good parts of the transfer portal
“They’re both great stories of perseverance and tremendous work ethic. Obviously they’ve both had great years.
Two years ago Dalton was at Northern Colorado and Baylor was at South Dakota State. Now you have a first team All-American and a third team All-American playing against each other in the Sweet 16. So an unbelievable story.
I don’t know that you’d guard him with one guy. I think you have to give him different looks, and that’s the plan. Hopefully take away his easy ones because he’s going to make enough tough ones because he’s an elite player.
He and Baylor, their journeys are similar in a lot of ways. To watch their growth and development from where they were a freshman in college to where they are today is really a testament to their work ethic.”
On the challenges defending Zakai Zeigler and Dalton Knecht
“I don’t know that you can get them out of sync. They have to see bodies. The problem is Tennessee is they’re unselfish. They have 567 assists and 356 turnovers. They’re a team that’s more than willing to make the extra pass, and Dalton is included in that.
That makes a team difficult to defend. They run a lot of actions to try to get him loose and then play off of that. When you’ve got a guy that scores at his level and is still unselfish, it makes it very difficult to defend.”
On the challenges Zakai Zeigler presents, if they’ve seen anyone like him
“Alexander at Butler this year, very disruptive offensively. Still don’t know if he’s as quick as Zeigler is. He gets to spots offensively. He’s so disruptive defensively. Coach Barnes has really carved out a huge role for him on that team on both ends of the floor. He’s hit big shots. He can — I don’t know, whatever how many steals he’s got, it’s a lot.
But just as a menace defensively with everything that he does. He’s a terrific point guard. In a lot of ways, kind of the straw that stirs the drinks for them in a lot of ways because of the impact he has on defensively and the plays he makes for other people offensively.
204 assists to 76 turnovers in the SEC, that’s big time.”
On what he’s learned about Tennessee this week
“I’ve known Coach Barnes for a long time and obviously coached against him when I was at Iowa State and he was at Texas. Interesting story, when Bruce Rasmussen called me and asked me to meet with him about the Creighton job when I was still at Iowa State, I still had a few years left on my contract at Iowa State. Creighton was still in the Valley, and I was meeting Bruce in Des Moines, 40, 45-minute drive.
When I got in my car and pulled out of my driveway, I called Rick Barnes, because I had questions for him about that point in my career, this kind of move. I hung up the phone with him when I pulled into the hotel parking lot 40 minutes later, and he just drilled me with questions and things to think about, short term, long term, that I think speaks to who Rick Barnes is.
He’s been a great friend of mine. I’ve always respected the way he’s coached his teams and how he’s gone about it. And this Tennessee team, it’s got some of what he did offensively when he was at Texas, trying to run some cutters off the basket, stander under the basket. I’ve prepared for that a lot before, and he does that a lot with Dalton.
But defensively there’s a standard there that’s really impressive with how they play, how they compete, and how disruptive they are every single play, and it can turn a game in a flash.
That message has been drilled into our guys over the course of the week. Whether we’re ready for it, we’ll see. But Coach Barnes has done a great job with this program. It’s been fun to watch him be as successful as he has been from afar.”
