Monday, March 19, 2007
The fifth-seeded Volunteers face Ohio State Thursday.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
COLUMBUS -- Go ahead, Tennessee fans. Break out the orange paint and slather up.
It sure seems to work for the head coach.
JaJuan Smith led a second-half comeback, Chris Lofton made one free throw after another in the final seconds as the Volunteers held off Virginia 77-74 Sunday in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Fifth-seeded Tennessee (24-10) reached the round of 16 for the first time since 2000 under second-year coach Bruce Pearl, who painted himself orange before a Lady Vols' game last month to show some spirit.
Now, his team is showing some staying power.
"When you reach the Sweet 16 at the University of Tennessee with the way we've had to rebuild, you've made a special place in history for yourself," point guard Dane Bradshaw said.
A certain shade of history, no less.
Pearl antics
Pearl took off his shirt and painted his torso orange to support the Lady Vols at one of their January games. The sight of his brightly colored belly was shown repeatedly on basketball highlight shows, bringing him some grief.
Sunday, Pearl wore a conservative white shirt and did some of his most creative coaching, bringing down a Virginia team that couldn't get one more basket out of its fabulous guard tandem.
Point guard Sean Singletary missed an open 3-pointer with one second left, then slumped and rested his forehead on the court in dismay as Virginia (21-11) watched its top two scorers come up empty at the end.
Tennessee will play No. 1 Ohio State in the South Regional Thursday in San Antonio. The high-scoring Volunteers lost at Ohio State 68-66 in January, when 7-foot center Greg Oden was just finding his form.
Different Buckeyes
"Ohio State has changed a lot," said Pearl, who has taken Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Tennessee to the round of 16 in the last three years. "There was some uncertainty for them at that time. Greg was just starting to come on. My guess is they've gotten a lot better than we have."
The Buckeyes will face a team determined to press and shoot the 3 -- the Volunteers set school records for steals and 3-pointers this season. They put their mark on the tournament in their opening game, matching the school and NCAA first-round scoring records by piling up 121 points against overwhelmed Long Beach State.
Southern Illinois 63,Virginia Tech 48
The team that no one wants to play is still playing -- thanks to its suffocating defense.
Southern Illinois got three big 3-pointers from Jamaal Tatum and pulled away from Virginia Tech. Tatum, the Missouri Valley Conference player of the year, scored 21 points. The fourth-seeded Salukis have won 15 of 16.
Tony Young added 17, Bryan Mullins 11 and Randall Falker 10 for Southern Illinois (29-6), which reached the round of 16 for the first time since 2001.
Jamon Gordon had 16 points and Deron Washington added 15 for fifth-seeded Virginia Tech (22-12), which hadn't been held to fewer than 54 points all year.