Purdue vs. Tennessee: 2019 NCAA Tournament game preview, TV schedule
Tennessee and Purdue are close to that elusive Final Four. Which program continues their season and whose ends in the Sweet 16 when these two face off?
TV schedule: Thursday, March 28, 7:29 pm ET. TBS
Arena: KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky
While most of the top seeds have breezed through the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament, Tennessee (31-5) has had to fight to get here. A big second-half run by Colgate made it a one-possession game much later than expected before the Vols won by seven points.
Rick Barnes’ team looked to make it an early one against Iowa in the Round of 32, having a halftime lead of 21 points. But the Vols went completely cold in the second half and allowed to Hawkeyes to evaporate the lead before sending it to overtime. But leaders Admiral Schofield and Grant Williams refused to go home this way, prevailing at the end for an 83-77 win. The offense for Tennessee has looked good with balanced contributions but the defense has been surprisingly weak. With only contenders left in the Big Dance, that’ll have to be shored up quickly.
Starting against Purdue (25-9), coming off one of the best collective offensive performances we’ve seen in the opening rounds. After beating Old Dominion in a slow-paced game, the Boilermakers erupted for 87 points on 16 made three-pointers to eliminate the defending national champions Villanova by a humiliating 26 points.
Carsen Edwards had another incredible game, going for 42 points on 9/16 from long distance. Matt Haarms dominated inside with 18 points and 12 rebounds while Ryan Cline also reached double figures with 12 points. One of the biggest surprises in the regular season, Purdue looks to beat the Vols in what would be considered a small upset.
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The key to this game is simple if you’re Tennessee. Stop Edwards. The Boilermakers don’t have enough offense outside of him to keep up with the Vols and the balanced scoring that the SEC foe has is difficult to stop. But the scoring guard for Purdue has put up gaudy numbers against really good teams before. Can he do it again?