The Tennessee Volunteers have played like one of the best teams in college basketball throughout the NCAA Tournament. They were given the No. 2 seed in the Midwest Region and won each of their first three tournament games by at least nine points.
Their defense has always been outstanding, and their offense, led by dynamic guard duo Chaz Lanier and Zakai Zeigler, is tough to stop as well.
The Volunteers looked like a team that could legitimately win the National Championship throughout their journey to the Elite Eight, but their performance in the Regional Final against No. 1-seeded Houston in the first half, at the very least, would suggest otherwise.
The Vols trailed at the break 34-15, and set an unfortunate record with their offensive ineptitude.
Tennessee's 15 first-half points are the lowest in NCAA Tournament history by a team with a No. 1 or No. 2 seed.
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) March 30, 2025
Lowest not just in an Elite Eight game — lowest in any round of the tournament. Ever.
Volunteers puts up first half to forget in biggest game of their season
Their 15 first-half points were the lowest in the NCAA Tournament for a team with a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in any March Madness game. Not only the Elite Eight, this is the case for any round. That's extremely depressing.
The task was always going to be difficult, given how great Houston is defensively, but the Volunteers had to do better than this, right? I mean, No. 16-seeded SIU Edwardsville managed to score 24 points in the first half and 16 points in the second half in their Round of 64 game against Houston. They struggled mightily to put the ball in the basket all day, but still managed to put up two better halves than Tennessee did to start their Elite Eight contest with their season on the line.
The Volunteers shot 21.4 percent from the field in the first half. A lot of the credit there goes to Houston's suffocating defense, but Tennessee shooting that poorly obviously falls heavily on their shoulders. They simply had to perform better, but ended the first half on pace for 30 points.
Tennessee might have a miracle half in them, but given how poorly their offense looked in the first half of this contest, it's tough to envision them getting beyond the Final Four if they can even get there.
It would've been one thing for the Vols to fall short against the Cougars, but the team doing so following such a frustratingly awful first half will be sure to leave a bad taste in the mouth of every Tennessee fan for quite some time.