Santiago Vescovi tied the program record for threes in a NCAA tournament game hitting 6 of 8 to lead Tennessee with 18 points as the third seeded Vols easily dispatched 14 seed Longwood 88-56 in the first round of South Region.
Vescovi has now made 101 three-pointers on the season becoming the second in program history to eclipse 100 made threes in a season.
Josiah Jordan-James added in 17, John Fulkerson put up 15, Kennedy Chandler scored 13 and Zakai Zeigler had 10 as five Vols finished in double figures in the rout of the Lancers in Indy.
Upset a year ago on the same Gainbridge fieldhouse court by Oregon State Tennessee put the idea of an upset to bed shooting 66.7% from the field and making 8 threes in the first half to amass a 25 point halftime lead. The Vols emptied the bench but didn’t relent in the second half finishing 33-55 (60%) from the field and 14-24 from beyond the arc (58%) for the game. Their 88 points were the second most this season. (90 vs Texas A&M February 1st)
The Vols will now face 11th seeded Michigan, who upset 6th seeded Colorado State 75-63, in the second round of the tournament on Saturday. Tip off time has yet to be announced but you can hear the game LIVE on The Rooster 101.5!
