Coming off a 78-65 win over the No. 3 seed Kentucky Wildcats Friday night, Tennessee Basketball is back in action Sunday afternoon in Indiana playing an Elite Eight game for the second straight season and only the third time in school history. The No. 2 seed Vols will be looking to reach their first ever Final Four in the process.
Rick Barnes’ team, which is 30-7 and ranked No. 6 in both polls, will take on the No. 1 seed Houston Cougars. A win for UT would get Barnes to his first Final Four since 2003 with the Texas Longhorns. The Vols beat the No. 15 seed Wofford Terriers in the NCAA Tournament Round of 64 and the No. 7 seed UCLA Bruins 67-58 in the Round of 32.
Led by Kelvin Sampson, Houston, ranked No. 2 in both polls, beat the No. 4 seed Purdue Boilermakers 62-60 off a last-second shot Friday night in the Sweet 16 after the Vols’ win to reach this round. Here is all the information you need for this matchup between Tennessee Basketball and Houston.
Tennessee Volunteers vs. Houston Cougars
When: Sunday, March 30 at 2:20 p.m. ET
Where: Lucas Oil Stadium; Indianapolis, Ind.
TV: CBS
Live stream: NCAA.com
Radio: Vol Network (Click here for affiliates); KPRC AM 950 in Houston
Listen online: The Varsity Network
Before beating Purdue, Houston beat the No. 16 seed SIU Edwardsville Cougars 78-40 and the No. 8 seed Gonzaga Bulldogs 81-76 to reach this round. At 33-4, Houston won its second straight Big 12 regular season championship in as many seasons in the league and also captured the Big 12 Tournament title this year.
Under Sampson, Houston has won four straight conference regular season titles dating back to their period in the American Athletic Conference and six league regular season titles in seven years. The one year they didn’t win it, 2021, they won the AAC Tournament title, so they have won a league regular season or tourney title every year the past seven years.
A win Sunday would send Houston to its second Final Four in five years. This year was the sixth straight NCAA Tournament they made the Sweet 16 dating back to 2019 since there was no tourney in 2020. It’s also their third Elite Eight appearance in five years.
Barnes and Sampson have a deep history, as they were in the Big 12 together for eight years from 1998 through 2006, when Sampson was with the Oklahoma Sooners. Sampson made a Final Four in 2002 before his second in 2021, and Barnes is still looking for his second. A win would also tie the highest win total in Tennessee Basketball history at 31, which they hit twice in 2019 and 2008.
