'We fought through everything': Tennessee's season filled with frustrating ups and downs

NEW YORK — Tennessee entered the Sweet 16 Thursday night at Madison Square Garden trying to do something it hadn’t done since January 28 against Texas. Win a third game in a row. 

The Vols, the No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament’s East Region, advanced past No. 13 Louisiana and No. 5 Duke in the first and second rounds in Orlando last week, after getting eliminated in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals by Missouri.

Only No. 9 Florida Atlantic stood between them and what could have been the program’s second Elite Eight appearance.

That third straight win didn’t happen. Tennessee led by as many as nine points in the first half and was up five at halftime, but FAU took control with a game-changing 20-4 run in the second half and Tennessee couldn’t get enough stops or find enough offensive answers, losing 62-55.

In the end, it was just another night for these Vols. So close to something special and still so far away.

“We fought through everything we could,” senior guard Santiago Vescovi said after the loss.

In a quiet postgame locker room late Thursday, the season-ending conversation kept circling back to just that — everything this team had been through during the season. Frustrating injuries that dated back to October, a humbling loss in November and an all too turbulent and injury-riddled February.

Vescovi had another date in mind after the loss to Florida Atlantic. It was February 8, the 66-65 loss at Vanderbilt on Tyrin Lawrence’s buzzer-beating 3-point shot. That was the last time Tennessee had a fully healthy, fully available roster.

“I think that just talks a lot about the team,” he said, “things people don’t really take into account, but we know it. Of course we’re disappointed. We wanted everything and we know that we could’ve played better. But still, really proud of this team and they way we fought. We stayed resilient the whole time. 

“With the ups and downs, I think the whole team stuck together, we fought. And we were in a position where a lot of teams would’ve just quit and waited for the next season coming up. I think we did a great job staying together.”

Josiah-Jordan James missed four games in February with a left ankle sprain, after he missed eight games in November and December with knee soreness that sidelined him during the preseason.

Vescovi played through a shoulder injury that cost him three games. Freshman Julian Phillips missed four games with a hip flexor issue. Graduate-transfer shooting guard Tyreke Key missed a game due to illness and also dealt with an ankle issue of his own in February.

And then there was Zakai Zeigler’s torn ACL, the most devastating blow that fittingly came on the last day of what was a disastrous February for this team. 

“That was one of the main things for sure, losing ‘Z’ at a big part of the season,” Vescovi said. “Towards the end, where it’s the most basketball you’ve got to be playing. It definitely hit us. I think a lot of guys stepped up, did a great job assuming their roles. 

“A lot of guys had to play positions they’re not used to, roles they weren’t used to either. I think they did a great job stepping up. Losing Zakai was definitely one of the things we had to fight through.”

Through the end of January, it was Tennessee landing most of the punches in the fight. 

The season unofficially started with a 99-80 win over Gonzaga in an exhibition game in Frisco, Texas on October 28. Colorado offered a reality check two weeks later, beating the Vols 78-66 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, but the team bounced back by winning the Battle 4 Atlantis championship at the end of the month — dominating Kansas in a 64-50 win — and would win 18 of the first 21 games of the season.

“People counted us out after the second game that we lost to Colorado,” James said. “They told us our season was over then. We heard it, but we didn’t listen to it. 

“We stayed resilient, and I think that if you guys and everybody outside of our locker room knew all the things that we went through, they’d be proud of us. I know we’re proud of ourselves.”

Vols started season 18-3, but couldn’t shake February slump

Tennessee lost at Arizona, 75-70, on December 17 and got pushed around by Kentucky at Thompson-Boling Arena on January 14, 63-56, but answered with four straight wins.

The fourth, 82-71 over Texas on January 28 in the Big 12-SEC Challenge, helped Tennessee move to No. 1 overall in the KenPom.com ratings and No. 2 in the Associated Press Top 25 and USA Today Coaches Poll. 

Then the calendar turned to February. The slide started with a 67-54 loss at Florida on February 1. There were four losses over five games — back-to-back buzzer beaters at Vanderbilt and at home against Missouri, then losses at Kentucky and Texas A&M — sandwiched around an emotional home win over then-No. 1 Alabama on February 15, 68-59.

In total, the Vols had two wins over NCAA Tournament No. 1 seeds (Alabama and Kansas) and another over a No. 2 seed (Texas). But Tennessee went 4-5 in nine games in February and ended the regular-season with a 79-70 loss at Auburn in the first full game without Zeigler. It was two-and-done in the SEC Tournament, eliminated by Missouri in the quarterfinal round.

Tennessee, ever so briefly projected as a possible No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament during the season’s highest highs, slid all the way to a No. 4 seed on Selection Sunday — the No. 14 overall seed in the 68-team field — after limping into the postseason.

The most trying issue for the Vols was the unknown. Who would be available from one game to the next. Which roles which players would have to assume based on the injury situation any given night.

“I don’t think a lot of people really know much this team when trough internally,” sophomore wing Jahmai Mashack said, “with guys being out, guys being in. Guys having to step up, guys having to take a step back. Guys not knowing what is going to happen from day to day, not knowing who was going to be there from day to day. It was tough, man. It was tough.”

Mashack, though he progressed as much as anyone, had it as tough as anyone. His minutes grew significantly late in the season, but he found himself running point guard at times after Zeigler was sidelined. 

“It’s hard going from game to game not knowing what you’re going to have on the court,” Mashack said. “… Nobody was ready for Zakai to go out. Nobody was ready for that. Now we have to go to the SEC Tournament and March Madness without our guy, yeah, that’s tough for any team.”

Tennessee’s defense was elite, but Vols couldn’t find consistency on offense

Tennessee’s defense was elite from the start, spending the majority of the season ranked No. 1 in KenPom’s adjusted efficiency rating. But the offense, which ranked 63rd as of Friday morning, never seemed to find its footing. 

The Vols needed another point guard behind Zeigler. They needed more reliable shot-makers. They needed a more consistent inside presence. 

“For us to even get this far is amazing,” Mashack said of the run to the Sweet 16. “I do feel like we could’ve gone further, but that’s on us, we have to be better on the defensive end and offensive end. 

“I think people have to remember how much adversity this team went through and just how much we really overcame.”

Senior forward Olivier Nkamhoua had two messages after the game. The first was directed at Tennessee fans.

“I just want people to know we played our hearts out every night,” he said. “We tried to come on the court and play our brand of basketball. Regardless of what was going on with the team, who was in, who was out, what games we had coming up, we stuck together.”

The second message, or more of a warning, was directed at the future of the Tennessee basketball program. Never get caught flat-footed, a lesson these Vols learned the hard way.

“Just learn from our mistakes,” Nkamhoua said. “Come back stronger. Put in your work. You have to put in your work. Grow in your mindset, where you have that focus where every game, you know how to attack it, feeling like you’ve got to play you heart out to win. 

“It’s basketball. It’s anybody’s game. If you come out a step slow, you might lose.”