Tennessee goes on the road again in the NIT
West 2nd Street fire scene, where one body was found early Tuesday. (Deuce Niven photo)
Dionn Juliius Brown
West 2nd Street fire scene, where one body was found early Tuesday. (Deuce Niven photo)
Dionn Juliius Brown
KNOXVILLE (AP) — Tennessee made it to the postseason, and the Volunteers will have to win on the road if they want to keep playing.
Tennessee (15-13) will play at George Mason on Wednesday in the opening round of the NIT.
Losing on the road was Tennessee’s biggest downfall this season. The Vols lost every Southeastern Conference road game, including a 35-point loss to Alabama in the first round of the league tournament last week.
Coach Buzz Peterson then made the team stay in Atlanta to watch the next day’s tournament games.
“The biggest thing is that this is a chance to wipe out the bad taste in our mouth from the SEC tournament and go get us a win somewhere and erase those memories,” Peterson said Monday.
Tennessee’s lone road win came at Massachusetts on Jan. 3. The Vols were 1-9 on the road in the regular season, losing by an average of 19.1 points.
They were close to pulling off a victory at Vanderbilt on March 3 before losing 61-58, their closest road loss.
Tennessee led the Commodores by as many as 14 points in the first half, and Vanderbilt rallied to take their first lead after halftime with 1:58 left. The Vols had a chance to get back in it but committed too many fouls and didn’t make enough free throws.
George Mason (21-9) lost to Virginia Commonwealth in the Colonial Athletic Association tournament championship. The Patriots hosted St. Joseph’s in last year’s first round and lost 74-63.
Tennessee is in the NIT for the 11th time in school history and has a 12-10 record in NIT games.
The Vols have not fared well in the NIT lately. They lost in last year’s first round at home to Georgetown and in the first round in 1996.
Tennessee’s only trip to the semifinals was in 1985 when the Vols lost to Indiana and beat Louisville in the consolation game.
Peterson attributed part of Tennessee’s loss last year to a bad attitude.
“Last year, we went into (the NIT) really frustrated that we didn’t get into the NCAAs. Our mindset wasn’t where it should be, and then we had to turn around in 48 hours and play Georgetown,” Peterson said. “Your mindset going in has to be that you’re going to win the thing.”
Peterson led Tulsa to the NIT championship in 2001 a few weeks before he was named coach at Tennessee.
The Vols were notified of their NIT bid late Sunday after the NCAA brackets were announced.
The opening round is essentially eight play-in games, and those 16 teams would have to win five games to reach New York City for the semifinals. The 24 remaining teams begin the tournament in the first round, meaning they need to win four games to advance to the semifinals.
Peterson said he was surprised Tennessee was sent to George Mason instead of hosting the opening round. The Vols had at least 10,400 at each home game this season, according to university attendance figures.
With a win, Tennessee would advance to play Belmont or Austin Peay on Friday. The location will be announced after Wednesday’s games.
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