Don McPeak-USA TODAY Sports
The Tennessee Volunteers somehow earned the No. 2 seed in last year’s SEC tournament. With such a great finish down the stretch last season, Tennessee had high expectations this season. At the very least, the Volunteers should have made the 2013 NCAA Tournament. Well, that was not the case and the Loss to Mercer in the NIT finished off the disappointing season for this team.
Tennessee finished tied for fifth in the SEC standings and lost to Alabama–another bubble team this year–in the conference tournament, which resulted in an NIT appearance by this team. The Volunteers were on the bubble until the final weekend before the tournament, so it is not like they did not have a chance to dance.
When this team was put in the NIT and was matched up against Mercer, most people probably thought that the Volunteers would pull off the victory, but that was not the case and they could only manage 67 points in the game.
Jordan McRae was awesome this year, but many times he was the only player that could put the ball into the hoop. He led the team in scoring with 15.7 points per game on the year, but apparently he ran out of gas once postseason play started, combining for 16 points in his last two games.
As a result, Tennessee lost both of those games.
The Volunteers had plenty of talent, though, and they should have not even been a bubble team to begin with. It is not like this team did horrible this season, but it was a disappointing year and the loss to Mercer capped it off.
So far the Volunteers have not been that great in the post-Bruce Pearl era. Hopefully, it will get better next season.
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