No. 2 Tennessee to face No. 1 Houston in Elite Eight Sunday afternoon
INDIANAPOLIS — No. 2 Tennessee will face No. 1 Houston in the Elite Eight on Sunday afternoon at Lucas Oil Stadium, scheduled for a 2:20 p.m. Eastern Time start on CBS.
Houston (33-4), the top seed in the Midwest Region, advanced with a 62-60 win over No. 4 Purdue late Saturday night. No. 2 Tennessee (30-7) beat No. 3 Kentucky 78-65 in the early game Friday evening.
Houston led Purdue by 10 points with eight minutes left, but the Boilermakers rallied to tie the game with a 3-pointer with 35 seconds left, after both teams went nearly two minutes without scoring.
Milos Uzan led the Cougars with 22 points and Emanuel Sharp scored 17. LJ Cryer had five points on 2-for-13 shooting and J’Wan Roberts had five points and 12 rebounds.
Cyrer leads Houston in scoring this season at 15.6 points per game. Roberts leads the team in rebounding, at 6.3, and Uzan leads in assists at 4.4.
Houston started the season 4-3 through seven games, but has won 29 of 30 games since then, including 16 straight since an overtime home loss to Texas Tech on February 1.
Tennessee’s No. 3-ranked defense facing Houston’s No. 1-ranked defense
Sunday’s game will be a matchup of two of the best defenses in college basketball. Houston is ranked No. 1 in KenPom.com‘s adjusted defensive efficiency, giving up just 88.0 points per 100 possessions. The Vols are ranked No. 3, giving up 89.3.
It will also be a meeting of two of the slowest, yet efficient offenses in the country.
Houston is ranked No. 360 in adjusted tempo but is No. 11 in adjusted offensive efficiency, scoring 123.8 points per 100 possession.
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Tennessee is No. 349 in adjusted tempo and is No. 17 in adjusted offensive efficiency, scoring 121.2 points per 100 possessions.
The Vols are 3-2 all time against Houston, with the two teams last playing in December 1995. Tennessee swept a home-and-home, starting with a win at Houston in December 1994 and also beat the Cougars in Knoxville in the first meetings between the two programs in 1970.
Houston won in Los Angeles in another game in 1970 and beat Tennessee at home in December 1971.
Vols back in Elite Eight for second straight year
The Vols are back in the Elite Eight for a second straight year and for just the third time in program history, having won 30 games in a season for just the third time.
Tennessee went to the Elite Eight last year before losing to No. 1 Purdue in the Midwest Region final, after beating No. 15 Saint Peter’s, No. 7 Texas and No. 3 Creighton along the way.
The Vols so far this postseason has gone through No. 15 Wofford and No. 7 UCLA in the first weekend of the tournament, played at Rupp Arena in Lexington, before rolling past No. 3 Kentucky.
Tennessee coach Rick Barnes and Houston coach Kelvin Sampson overlapped for eight seasons at Texas and Oklahoma, respectively. Sampson’s Sooner teams were 12-8 against the Longhorns.
