Doubts about Tennessee’s success in the upcoming NCAA tournament didn’t just creep in with Friday afternoon’s performance in Nashville.
They gushed in.
The No. 5 Volunteers suffered their worst setback of the season with their 73-56 debacle against Mississippi State in the Southeastern Conference tournament quarterfinals. Tennessee had arrived at Bridgestone Arena as the league’s outright regular-season champion and with the potential of earning the first No. 1 NCAA tourney seed in program history.
That Tennessee is now certain to be a No. 2 seed is the least of its worries, as no more mulligans remain for a team that trailed the Bulldogs by as many as 23 points.
“Well, I told them, ‘Let’s just sit here and think about how we feel right now,'” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said in a news conference after his Vols fell to 24-8. “I said, ‘Let’s just talk about it, sit here and marinate in how you feel right now. If you feel like this again, it’s over. I want you to not forget right now what you did, because this time of year you want to give it your best.’