NCAA Tournament 2019: Tre Jones, PJ Washington top Sweet 16 performers
By Logan Butts
The Sweet 16 offered a couple of classic games and some dominant performances, let’s take a look at who did the best heading into the NCAA Basketball Elite Eight.
Purdue-Tennessee
In contention with Duke-UCF for the best game of the tournament so far, Tennessee and Purdue put on a show on Thursday night in Louisville.
The Boilermakers led 51-33 with just over 16 minutes left. With their dream season on the brink, the Vols proceeded to go on a 16-2 run to tie things up at 65 with a little under seven minutes left.
After a back and forth final seven minutes of regulation, Tennessee found themselves in overtime for the second consecutive game. However, it was essentially the opposite of how they ended up in overtime against Iowa considering they blew a huge second-half lead to the Hawkeyes.
All the stars came to play in this one, but it was Purdue sharpshooter Ryan Cline who stole the show, finishing with a career-high 27 points with a blazing 7-10 mark from behind the arc. I’m sure UT fans will be having nightmares about him for years to come.
Carsen Edwards built on his tournament-best body of work, scoring 25+ for the fourth straight March Madness outing. The last player to do that? Steph Curry during Davidson’s magical run to the Elite Eight in 2008.
Grant Williams had 21 points, seven rebounds, four assists, and two blocks in his final game in the Orange and White, although like his partner in crime Schofield in the previous round he sat out much of overtime with foul trouble – a curious decision.
Schofield himself had another clutch outing in what might also be his final game with the Vols, matching Williams’ 21 points and grabbing a game-high nine boards.
It was such a great game, with the age-old adage of “big players making big plays in big games” that I wish both teams could have advanced.
Edwards is going to give Virginia all they can handle.