University of Tennessee Athletics
AFTER NARROW ESCAPE, VOLS TRY TO REACH REGIONAL SEMIFINALS
March 17, 2006 | Men's Basketball
March 17, 2006
Friday's Press Conference Quotes
Greensboro, N.C. (AP) - After nearly making an early exit, Tennessee looks to advance to the regional semifinals of the NCAA tournament for the first time in six years when it meets Wichita State in the second round of the Washington Regional on Saturday.
The second-seeded Volunteers (22-7) nearly became just the fifth team in tournament history to be eliminated by a 15th seed in the first round, but escaped with a 63-61 win Thursday over Winthrop.
Chris Lofton hit a tough 19-foot fadeaway with 0.4 seconds to play as Tennessee reached the second round for the first time since 2000.
"It was a good look, but (the defender) was all up on me," Lofton said. "It still felt good."
Lofton, who entered the game with 106 3-pointers while shooting 45.3 percent from beyond the arc, went just 2-for-9 from 3-point range and finished with 12 points on 5-for-14 shooting.
Lofton's last-second shot overshadowed a solid effort from the frontcourt tandem of Major Wingate and Andrae Patterson. Wingate scored 15 points and provided a consistent low-post threat for the Volunteers while Patterson contributed 12 points and 11 rebounds.
"We deserved victory," first-year Volunteers coach Bruce Pearl said. "It wasn't like we had to get hit in the mouth to start playing. We were ready to play, and we had to play well."
Tennessee has not been to the regional semifinals since 2000, the only year in school history it won two NCAA tournament games.
"You can definitely make the case that this was good for us, the way it turned out," guard Dane Bradshaw said. "Coach says the teams we play obviously will continue to get better, but the situation we were in won't get any tougher."
Wichita State (25-8), which won the regular-season title in the Missouri Valley Conference and was one of four teams from the MVC in the tournament, proved it belonged with an 86-66 rout of Seton Hall on Thursday.
The seventh-seeded Shockers built a 20-point first-half lead and were hardly challenged in the second half en route to the lopsided victory over a team from the Big East, which set an NCAA tournament record with eight entrants in the field of 65.
"We're really proud of what we've done, and we weren't going to let a bunch of people around the country who haven't seen us make us feel any different," Wichita State coach Mark Turgeon said. "We know what we have and it's pretty special."
Sean Ogirri hit six of his team's 10 3-pointers and finished with 23 points. It was the eighth time Wichita State has made at least 10 3-pointers this season, and the Shockers are 7-1 in those contests.
"We came into the game with a lot of confidence," said center Paul Miller, who had 11 of his 15 points in the first half. "We're excited to be here. We felt like we belonged and felt if we came out and executed like we did in practice, we'd be fine."
The Shockers, who haven't reached the regional semifinals since 1981, held the Pirates to 34.4 percent shooting and have limited their last five opponents to 40.7 percent or worse.
Wichita State won the only game between these teams, a 77-73 victory at the 1990 Hawaii Rainbow Classic.
