Tennessee ready for 'a dogfight' against Houston with the Final Four on the line

INDIANAPOLIS — Igor Milicic Jr. won’t let his mind go there. The thought of a win in the Elite Eight Sunday afternoon, cutting down nets at Lucas Oil Stadium after winning the Midwest Regional final and sending Tennessee Basketball to its first Final Four. 

There’s too much on the line to daydream. 

“At this point in the season,” Milicic said on Saturday afternoon, “you can’t really get ahead of yourself. You’ve got to focus on what’s in front of you. And if we win, then we can celebrate and be happy and then we think about how much this win meant. 

“But at this point, you’ve got to be focused on what’s coming. You can’t really jump forward.”

No. 2 Tennessee vs. No. 1 Houston, Sunday, 2:20 p.m. ET, CBS

What’s coming is another shot in the Elite Eight. A year after the 72-66 loss to Purdue in the Midwest Regional final in Detroit, No. 2 Tennessee (30-7) is back in the Elite Eight against No. 1 Houston (33-4).

Tipoff is scheduled for 2:20 p.m. Eastern Time on Sunday on CBS.

The Vols advanced with a 78-65 drubbing of rival Kentucky in the Sweet 16 Friday night, leading by as many as 19 points in a dominant performance from start to finish. 

Afterward, Tennessee players immediately started thinking about what was next.

“It didn’t take me a lot of time to switch over,” senior guard Jahmai Mashack said. “ … Right after the game I was thinking about who was going to play next, thinking about the teams, thinking about the opportunities.

“Once we saw Houston was playing, I did as much film as I can that night and really was focusing on who they have, what makes them good and what goes into that game.”

The matchup with Houston amounts to the Vols seeing another version of themselves on the other side of the ball.

The Cougars have the top-ranked defense in college basketball. Tennessee’s is No. 3. Houston is No. 12 on offense. The Vols are No. 17. Houston has the 360th slowest tempo, out of 364, while the Vols have the 349th slowest. 

“Every possession is really going to matter for us,” Chaz Lanier said. “We’re going to have to really take care of the rebounds and the boards. But the positive thing about it is we always practice against this type of defense. 

“So we know what looks we’re going to get and we know kind of how the game is going to flow just because we go through it every day and practice with each other, since we almost mirror each other with Houston on defense.”

Houston is fourth in effective field-goal percentage allowed, No. 5 in two-point percentage and No. 23 in three-point percentage allowed. The Cougars are No. 5 in block percentage, No. 27 in steal percentage and No. 20 in turnover percentage. 

“All the attributes that a great defensive team has to have,” Milicic said. “They check all the boxes. So we’ll have to be ready for them and be ready for a tough night because we’re physical, they’re physical. It’s going to be a dogfight.”

‘This is what we’ve been working for since the summer’

Last year Tennessee led Purdue by as many as 11 points in the first half and the Vols got 37 points from Dalton Knecht. But Zach Edey’s 40 points and 16 rebounds stood in the way, taking over for Purdue in what was a one-point game with 3:41 left. 

Now the Vols are back with another shot, another 40 minutes away from a Final Four. 

“This is what we’ve been working for since the summer,” Lanier said. “I know how much time and effort and blood, sweat, and tears these guys have poured into it. It would mean the world to make it to the Final Four.”

Zakai Zeigler knows what it will take to make it happen.

“As long as we play Tennessee basketball,” he said, “I’m super confident that we’re going to win this game.”