Tennessee vs Florida Atlantic: 2023 NCAA Tournament game preview, TV schedule, prediction
Florida Atlantic is one of the underdogs left in the NCAA Tournament. Can they beat another program from the state of Tennessee in the Volunteers?
TV schedule: Thursday, March 23rd, 9:00 pm ET (approx), TBS
Arena: Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York
The matchup between Florida Atlantic and Tennessee is one of the most unlikely Sweet 16 matchups for multiple reasons. The biggest being is that there were three teams arguably better than these two that have been knocked out early, including No. 1 seed Purdue losing in the first round before even getting the chance to see Florida Atlantic.
The Owls (33-3) had two of the more entertaining games in this event to this point, starting with the 66-65 victory over Memphis thanks to a game-winning layup after a crazy 20 seconds of events prior. It was a balanced effort to beat the Tigers but leading scorer Johnell Davis was the clear star in the 78-70 win over Fairleigh Dickinson, scoring a game-high 29 points in a game that proved to be too close to call for 40 minutes.
The path to the Sweet 16 for Tennessee (25-10) wasn’t as eye-pleasing but its games were also entertaining. They had a big lead in the first-round matchup against Louisiana Lafayette but had to sweat it out at the end before moving on with the 58-55 win. In the next game against Duke, it was the physicality that the Vols had that unnerved the young Blue Devils, running away late with the 65-52 win.
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Despite two starters not making a field goal for Tennessee, they benefitted from a career performance from Olivier Nkamhoua, going for 27 points and five rebounds. Santiago Vescovi had 14 points and five assists while going 4/8 from three-point range. This is a team that’s going to struggle offensively without starting guard Zakai Zeigler but the defense remains intact, which is the most important thing for the Vols’ chances to succeed.
Ranking each Sweet 16 team's starting lineup. dark. Next
But it’s going to be easier said than done against a balanced Florida Atlantic team that has 4-5 guys that can drop 20 points in a given night. This is a team that can shoot the lights out and has size down low as well. Tennessee did well against teams that rely on 1-2 scorers but the Owls have guards that can cause problems and without Zeigler on them, look for the Conference USA to still have a team dancing in the Elite 8.
Prediction: Florida Atlantic 73, Tennessee 68