DETROIT — No. 2 seed Tennessee basketball is in for a heavyweight bout with No. 1 seed Purdue in the Elite Eight.
For the Vols, a trip to their first Final Four in program history is on the line. A win for the Boilermakers would mark their first trip to the Final Four 1980
Obviously coach Barnes is one of the best coaches in the country, but they have all the pieces,” Purdue head coach Matt Painter said. “They have quickness. They have athleticism. They have good guard play. They have an All-American in Knecht, who is very, very dangerous. They have good size on their front line. So we know this is going to be an absolute battle.”
Painter acknowledged his team’s success when they do not turn the ball over. Tennessee’s relentless defense is one that turns over opponents at a very high clip.
Going into Sunday’s Elite Eight matchup, Painter is stressing ball control and valuing possessions to his team. He also said that the ball pressure won’t be unique from anything the Boilermakers faced in the regular season.
“It’s just you hope your defense is better than their offense and your offense is better than their defense,” Painter said. “When it comes down to their pressure and what they’re able to do, you’ve also got to be able to pass and catch and but also have to be handle the basketball with confidence, but also execute.
“We run a lot of stuff. Whatever we’re doing, simply do your job, make the right reads, make the right plays and passes, but be aggressive. As long as you’re aggressive doing what we work on, things are going to work out for us.”
When Tennessee faced Purdue in the Maui Invitational, point guard Zakai Zeigler still wasn’t at full strength. He wasn’t as confident as he normally is, fresh off his return from a torn ACL.
Now, though, Zeigler is back to full strength. The guard has been a menace defensively while keeping Tennessee’s offense ticking. Painter realizes how important that is heading into Sunday’s game.
“We played them in the Bahamas,” Painter said. “We played them in the NCAA Tournament. We played them in Hawaii. So we’ve had a lot of experience of going against them and how competitive they are. But as coach Barnes’ point guard, he’s got to run the show, but he’s also got to set the tone from a defensive standpoint and get into the ball handler and put pressure on the ball.
“He’s one of the best players in the country.”
If there is one thing to expect from Sunday’s game, it is physicality. When the two teams met earlier this season, the game ended with 78 free throws and a technical foul for Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes.
With the way the tournament has been called thus far, Barnes admitted that he doesn’t foresee that many whistles being blown again. Both coaches spoke about the physicality expected in the matchup though.
