University of Tennessee Athletics
History Lesson: One-Shot Wonder
February 07, 2012 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 7, 2012
Drew Rutherford
UTsports.com
Don DeVoe knew VCU was a good basketball team. He knew that his 15th-ranked Volunteers would have to play a great game on both ends of the court to beat the Rams in the second round of the 1981 NCAA Tournament.
But he never could have predicted what transpired on the hardwood at Charlotte Coliseum on March 15, 1981.
The stage was set for one of those epic NCAA Tournament games that people talk about for years to come. The game would not disappoint.
Fourth-seeded Tennessee earned a first-round bye, while the fifth-seeded Rams would have to get by Long Island in the first round. VCU had no issues with LIU, quickly dispatching the Blackbirds 85-69.
"Virginia Commonwealth was a very talented basketball team," DeVoe said. "We went into the ballgame knowing they were a well-disciplined defensive team and we would have to be on top of our game. I thought they would be a real tough competitive squad. And they were exactly what I thought they were."
That's what DeVoe says these days, but he was probably liking what he saw when the Vols opened up a 14-point, 32-18, lead over the Rams in the closing minutes of the first half.
But VCU closed the gap and the Vols took an 11-point lead into the locker room, 36-25.
During the second half, the Rams closed the gap to three, then the Vols opened it up to seven. VCU cut it to two, then the Vols pushed it back out to four.
"We really struggled to ever open the game up," DeVoe said.
With 2:24 on the clock, Danny Kottak hit a 15-footer from the top of the key for the Rams to tie it up.
No one could put one through the iron and regulation would end with both squads even at 56. Who doesn't love a good overtime game come tournament time, right? This is why the Big Dance is so magical. Two teams striving to survive and advance with hopes of achieving dreams.
As Xs and Os were being drawn up on notepads in both huddles, the question on every mind was who will step up in the clutch? Every overtime has a hero--that player that courageously guts his team to victory.
For most of the overtime, however, the question seemed not to have an answer.
VCU won the tip. And that was about it.
With no shot clock, the Rams held the ball for more than half the period. Tennessee stayed in a tight man-to-man defense, and it eventually paid off. UT's Steve Ray, a Collinsville, Ill. native, forced VCU to throw the ball out of bounds. Then it was the Vols' turn.
UT held the ball until only 19 seconds remained on the clock, at which time DeVoe called a timeout. The Xs and Os were really flying as the third-year UT head coach was trying to devise his team's last shot.
"It was a set-zone play where Howard Wood was going to set a screen for Dale Ellis," said DeVoe. "Then we would then be able to give the ball to Dale or Howard, our two best shooters. Howard had already made some game-winning shots for us, but Dale was pretty early in his career here. The play shaped up just as we'd hoped."
All 11,443 people in the sold-out Charlotte Coliseum were still wondering who would step up and make the play. Wood? Ellis? Someone else? With 19 seconds left, anything could happen in a tie ballgame.
VCU was in zone defense. As the clock was winding down, Wood set the screen but guard Michael Brooks got triple-teamed. That left Ellis, the sophomore from Marietta, Ga., wide open. Brooks made an overhead pass and with one second left, Ellis swished a 15-footer from the right wing.
The people had their answer.
During the 40 minutes of regulation, the two teams combined to attempt 90 shots and made 50.
During the 5-minute overtime, one shot was attempted. One shot was made. The game was over, Tennessee won 58-56.
"It was the most unusual overtime I ever coached," said DeVoe. "I never had another game like it in my career."
