Revisiting Butler vs. Tennessee: 4 games that mattered
Butler Bulldongs' A.J. Graves, left, passes the ball off against Tennessee Volunteers' JaJuan Smith during the second half during the semifinals of the NIT basketball competition Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2006 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Butler won 56-44. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson) (Photo: AP)
Butler and Tennessee are not natural rivals in college basketball, and their series consists of just four games. But all four have been consequential.
The teams meet again at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Hinkle Fieldhouse (Fox Sports 1).
Recapping the Dawgs/Vols games:
Dec. 20, 1958:
Butler 81, Tennessee 66
(Excerpted from The Butler Way.)
This was supposed to be a homecoming for Tennessee coach Emmett Lowery, an Indianapolis native who had starred at Tech High School and Purdue. After all, the fifth-ranked Vols were 5-0 and Butler an unimposing 1-5.
The Vols’ trip began poorly when they missed a train connection in Cincinnati and had to charter a bus to Indianapolis, arriving at 3:30 p.m. for that night’s game. The Vols missed a planned morning practice at the fieldhouse. Circumstances then worsened.
Tennessee trailed 36-32 at halftime, and its position was more precarious than the score reflected. Four starters had three fouls each. In the opening 9 minutes of the second half, Butler extended its lead to 15, and the Vols were doomed. Butler finished 31-of-38 on free throws.
Tennessee captain Gene Tormohlen, a 6-8 native of Holland, Ind., scored 19 points before fouling out. Bill Scott scored 17, Ken Pennington 16 and Larry Ramey 11 for Butler.
Butler's familiar efficiency leads to blowout win
Nov. 22, 2006:
Butler 56, Tennessee 44
(Excerpted from The Butler Way.)
No Butler team had played at Madison Square Garden, once the Mecca of college basketball, in nearly a half-century. The Bulldogs lost to Bradley 83-77 in their most recent appearance, March 14, 1959, in the postseason NIT.
They would have to wait a little longer to reach New York. For the pre-tourney news conference at the Marriott Marquis, located in the middle of the theater district, coaches and players from North Carolina, Gonzaga and Tennessee assembled. The Bulldogs’ flight from Indianapolis was delayed, and they missed the event altogether. They missed about half of their scheduled practice at Baruch College in Manhattan.
The Bulldogs kept missing the hoop when they took the floor against 22nd-ranked Tennessee. Coach Bruce Pearl’s Vols built a 21-8 lead, probably prompting tourney organizers to wonder how they ended up with Butler instead of Indiana or Notre Dame. Butler scored the final seven points of the half to close within three, 25-22.
As dreadfully as the Bulldogs shot the ball in the half (25 percent), the Vols were correspondingly as bad handling it (14 turnovers). Butler proceeded to score the first seven points of the second half for a 29-25 lead and never trailed again – for the rest of the tournament.
The unlikely source of a second-half outburst was Julian Betko, who in 37 games for Butler had averaged fewer than three points. He scored 11 successive Butler points – nine on three 3-pointers – as the margin stretched to 46-38.
Meanwhile, the Vols treated the hoop as if it were the circumference of a coaster. They shot 10 percent – 3-of-29 – in the second half. Over the final 27 minutes, Tennessee scored 23 points. Butler moved into the championship game with a 56-44 victory. A.J. Graves and Betko scored 15 points each. Mike Green endured 1-of-12 shooting and five turnovers, but none of that mattered.
“I felt like I was open almost the whole game,” Betko said. “I just knew this year Coach (Todd Lickliter) expected me to, if I’m open, to shoot it and knock it down.”
INDIANAPOLIS STAR
Butler climbs to 18th in AP poll, Purdue remains 11th
March 23, 2008
Tennessee 76, Butler 71, OT
This East Regional game at Birmingham, Ala., never should have been played. That is, it never should have been played so early in the NCAA tournament.
Butler (30-3) and Tennessee (30-4) became the first 30-game winners to be matched as early as the second round. It didn’t help the Bulldogs that Tennessee wanted redemption from the previous season’s defeat and the fact that the Vols’ coach was Bruce Pearl, who knew the Butler system from coaching at Milwaukee in the Horizon League.
“In fact, I would say that what they do works against more traditional size than it does even in their own league sometimes,” Pearl said, “where they see smaller players that are able to match up with what they do.”
Tennessee sank three 3-pointers in the opening 6 minutes and bolted ahead 13-2. The Bulldogs managed to trim that to 38-34 by halftime.
A.J. Graves converted a one-and-one to tie the score at 60, and Willie Veasley’s tip-in tied it again at 63 with 37 seconds to play. A Tennessee traveling violation return the ball to Butler with 4 seconds left, but Mike Green lost control as time expired. On to overtime.
Graves supplied Butler its only lead, 68-66, on a drive with 1:46 left. The Vols outscored Butler 10-3 thereafter and pulled away. Graves scored 21 points in his final college game.
Green had typical numbers – 15 points, seven rebounds, five assists – in his final game but shot 4-of-17 and committed six turnovers. That he set a Butler season assists record of 172 was of no consolation.
Butler players didn’t go on record stating long-term ambitions, but they believed they could reach a Final Four. Or win a national championship, even though odds against that were listed at 100-to-1.
“I have no reservation saying that,” said Pete Campbell, another senior. “We definitely did.”
Added first-year coach Brad Stevens: “When you think about what this team has accomplished in the last two years, it’s absolutely incredible.”
We didn’t think Butler could assemble a team that could reach a Final Four for many more years … if ever.
Two years later, we were proved wrong.
INDIANAPOLIS STAR
Cloverdale shooter is Butler's first 2017 recruit
Dec. 14, 2014
Tennessee 67, Butler 55
The Bulldogs looked poised to raise their record to 9-1 when they seized a 34-25 halftime lead and increased that margin to 12 early in the second half.
They crumbled thereafter, finishing with six field goals in the second half. Tennessee outscored them 42-21 in the second half, 19-6 over the closing 6 minutes and 9-0 in the final 2:10.
“We couldn't get a stop in the second half,’’ first-year Butler coach Chris Holtmann said. “And if you ask me what the most disappointing thing in the game was, it was the fact that we got out-toughed in some areas and we just could not get a stop in the second half.”
Kellen Dunham scored 11 of his 16 points in the first half for Butler. Kameron Woods had a career-high 16 rebounds. Freshman Kelan Martin came off the bench to score 13.
Call Butler Insider David Woods at (317) 444-6195 or e-mail david.woods@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.
Tennessee at Butler, 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Fox Sports 1
Tennessee at Butler, 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Fox Sports 1
Commenti
Posta un commento