The 23rd ranked No. 6 seed Tennessee Volunteers continued their run of facing teams with 29 or more wins when they took on the third-ranked and top-seeded Michigan Wolverines at the United Center in Chicago on Sunday.
Tennessee’s run toward the program’s first Final Four ended with a thud, as Michigan (35-3) simply blew out the Vols (25-12) 95-62. The Vols fell behind in the first half during a 5:43 scoring drought that led to the Wolverines going on a 21-0 run and outscoring Tennessee 34-10 over the last 11 minutes of the half. The Vols never recovered.
Let’s look Beyond the Box Score to see just how rough the matchup played out.
Big Men Everywhere: Both of these team’s rosters are full of big men. Michigan has centers 7-3 Aday Mara, and 7-2 Malick Kordel, forwards 6-9 Morez Johnson, 6-9 Yaxel Lendeborg, and 6-8 Will Tschetter. Tennessee doesn’t list any 7-footers but five guys 6-8 or taller: 6-11 Felix Okpara, 6-11 J.P. Estrella, 6-10 Nate Ament, 6-8 DeWayne Brown II, and 6-8 Jaylen Carey. Four of the ten had two or more fouls halfway through the first half and between nine that played, there were 14 fouls called on the bigs in the first 20 minutes and 14 more in the second half (28 of 42 total).
Dual Threat Drought: Tennessee has learned heavily on the pair of Nate Ament and Ja’Kobi Gillespie, who scored 15 or more points in the same game 18 times this year which ranks tied for third among all Division I tandems. On Sunday however, the pair failed to add to that total. Gillespie scored 21 on 8 of 22 shooting from the field while Ament had only seven points (2-12 FG). Gillespie and Ament combined for just 10 points on 3-for-17 shooting in the first half, which spelled disaster for the Vols.
Missing Dishing Boswell: Tennessee’s Bishop Boswell was nearly invisible. He sank Tennessee’s first bucket on a 3-pointer, didn’t score again, failed to have a single assist, and made one turnover. Coming in, Boswell had dished eight or more assists in the last two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, after having only one game of eight or more assists during the rest of the season.
Unyielding Yaxel: Lendeborg, a consensus first-team All-American and Michigan’s leading scorer, came up huge during the decisive 21-0 first half run. He scored or assisted on 16 of those points, reaching his scoring average of 14.9 before halftime. Lendeborg finished with 27 points on 10 of 19 shooting, seven rebounds, four assists, one steal, and two blocks without any turnovers.
Stifling Defense: Tennessee came into the game with the most turnovers in the NCAA Tournament of any Elite Eight team with 43 and the Wolverines turned them over eight more times on Sunday. The Wolverines held Tennessee to 32% shooting (24 of 76) on the day and just 24% shooting in the first half (9 of 37).
Tough Matchups: Tennessee has made three straight Elite Eights but in each of the regional finals, the Vols have faced number 1 seeds each time. Purdue won 72-66 in 2024, Houston won 69-50 last year, and now Michigan. Tennessee trailed at the half in all three but over the past two seasons they found themselves outscored 82-41 in the first half.
Up Next: With the season over, the Vols will look very different next season. Gillespie, Okpara, and Amaree Abram will be gone, and there’s a high likelihood possible NBA lottery pick Nate Ament will leave, too. The Vols may also be without assistant coach Justin Gainey who reports say has interviewed with his alma mater NC State for their open head coaching position following Will Wade’s return to LSU.
Tip Ins: The 33 point loss was the worst of the season for the Vols whose previous worst defeat was to Florida by 24. … It was also the most points Tennessee had allowed this season. … Seven of Tennessee’s 12 losses this season were by fewer than six points with four of those being decided by only one possession. … UT has lost five in a row to Michigan after starting 5-3 from 1958 to 1984. The last four meetings between the two have come in the NCAA tournament with Michigan winning all four (2011, 2014, 2022 and 2026). … The Vols are 37-46 all time against current Big Ten schools, including 5-10 in the NCAA Tournament. … Tennessee is now 34-29 all time in the NCAA Tournament including 15-8 under Rick Barnes. … The Vols are one of only five teams with 25 or more wins in each of the last five years. … The point differential Sunday was the highest for a regional final since Michigan beat Virginia in 1989 by 37.