DETROIT, Mich. — No. 2-seed Tennessee basketball will face No. 3 Creighton in the Sweet Sixteen of the 2024 NCAA Tournament on Friday in Detroit, Mich. at Little Caesars Arena — the home of the NBA’s Detroit Pistons.
An exact tip time has not yet been set for Friday night’s game. The Vols and Blue Jays will begin about 25 minutes following the conclusion of game one between No. 1 Purdue and No. 5 Gonzaga, which is set for 7:39 p.m. ET.
Tennessee and Creighton will likely tip off around 10:15 p.m. ET or so. The game will be broadcast on TBS and TruTV with Andrew Catalon (play-by-play), Steve Lappas (analyst) and Evan Washburn (sideline) on the call.
Rick Barnes met with the media on Thursday afternoon in Detroit to preview Tennessee basketball’s Sweet Sixteen matchup against Creighton.
BARNES: One thing I’ll tell you about Greg is he’s a program builder, and really truly a great offensive mind. After every time we played him, I would take something from what he did to us and add to what we were doing. I’m sure the conversation would’ve been, one, everyone would want him in the league because he stands for all the right things. He’s done it the way that you’d want any coach to do it. He’s a guy that could coach at any level. Again, when you’re in a league that’s as competitive as the leagues are that we’ve played in, you want to know the person you’re competing against is doing it the right way. You knew he would do that. You knew he would build a high-level program. I think he did that. He has done it certainly at Creighton and everywhere he’s been. You ask anybody that’s in coaching today about him, they would have the utmost respect for him, obviously as a basketball coach, but as a person that represents our business the way you want it. You can’t find one better.
Vols head coach Rick Barnes met with the media on Thursday afternoon at the podium to preview the matchup with the Blue Hays. Here’s everything Barnes had to say about his team with a trip to the Elite Eight on the line.
Q. Coach, just the scout, what are a couple things that jump out at you that are primary focuses when you’re getting ready to play Creighton?
BARNES: Well, there’s a number of different things. Obviously, one, transition. They’re a really terrific team in transition. Discipline. They really have, I think, a high level basketball IQ. They know each other so well. They know what they’re looking for. They know to play within the rhythm of what they do. Just an extremely sound team defensively. They do a great job of helping each other. I’ve known Greg for a long time, coaching against him in the Big 12, and just a terrific basketball coach. His team, I think, plays the way he wants them to play.
