With arguably its best chance at a deep March Madness run, Tennessee Basketball takes the court Thursday to open the NCAA Tournament. UT is a No. 2 seed in the Midwest Region after reaching the SEC Tournament championship game and falling to the Florida Gators 86-77.
Rick Barnes’ team, ranked No. 6 in both polls, will take on the No. 15 seed Wofford Terriers in Kentucky. This is the second straight year the Vols are a No. 2 seed despite this team, which enters the Big Dance 27-7, spending five weeks earlier in the year at No. 1 in the nation in both polls.
Wofford, at 19-15 under third-year head coach Dwight Perry, got into March Madness based on a red-hot run in the Southern Conference Tournament in which they won three straight, capped off with a win over the Furman Paladins. Here is all the information you need for this matchup.
Tennessee Volunteers vs. Furman Paladins
When: Thursday, March 20 at 6:50 p.m. ET
Where: Rupp Arena; Lexington, Ky.
TV: TNT
Live stream: NCAA.com; Paramount+
Radio: Vol Network (Click here for affiliates); Wofford Radio Network (Click here for affiliates)
Listen online: The Varsity Network
This is the first March Madness for Wofford since 2019, when they went 30-5, won the SoCon Regular Season and Tournament title outright by going undefeated in league play, and reached the Round of 32 as a No. 7 seed under Mike Young. The Virginia Tech Hokies hired Young, who spent 17 years at Wofford, immediately after that.
After Young, Jay McAuley was promoted to head coach. He only went 58-41 in four years with no March Madness appearances despite Young making the Big Dance five of the previous 11 years. Perry then took over and made it this year despite a 48-42 overall record in three years with the program.
Led by senior guard Corey Tripp, who averages 14 points a game, Wofford is your typical mid-major NCAA Tourney team that runs four guards in its starting lineup with four seniors as well. The one interior player, 6’9″ Kyler Filewich, averages 11.9 points and 9.4 rebounds per game but shoots a granny style free throw. Dillon Bailey also averages double figures at 11.3 points per game.
Perry’s team relies heavily on an inside out game. They either score in the post or with three-point shooting, where despite being outside of the top 300 in tempo and possessions per game, they are 33rd in three-pointers made per game and shoot 34.1 percent from beyond the arc.
UT is in March Madness for the seventh straight time (2020 didn’t play) and looking to win its Round of 64 matchup for the fourth straight season, reach its third straight Sweet 16, its second straight Elite Eight and its first ever Final Four. The winner of this matchup will take on the winner between the No. 7 seed UCLA Bruins and No. 10 seed Utah State Aggies.
