Dan Hurley has the chance to join his brother Bobby Hurley by winning a November tournament after Arizona State captured the Legends Classic over then-No. 20 Michigan last week in Brooklyn. “We’re used to having success in these MTEs (multi-team events),” Dan Hurley said. “The whole mindset of the program this year is, we’ve been contending the last couple of years, contending in the Big East, contending in tournaments. But we’re trying to go from contenders to champions. Now, we have a chance to do that on Sunday.” No. 22 TENNESSEE BEATS NO. 3 KANSAS TO TAKE BATTLE 4 ATLANTIS TITLE –No. 22 Tennessee led from start to finish and captured the Battle 4 Atlantis title Friday, taking down No. 3 Kansas, 64-50.“We just stuck together… I just think it goes back to our coaches and players on the team.”@TheAndyKatz caught up with Caleb Grill after his huge performance to discuss the keys to @CycloneMBB’s upset over No. 1 North Carolina 🔥 pic.twitter.com/XODdYid52j
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) November 26, 2022
The win marked the Vols’ fifth straight win over an AP top-10 team and fourth over a top-five team. It also snapped a 17-game win streak dating to last season for the defending national champion Jayhawks and gave Tennessee its first holiday tournament title since 2010.
Santiago Vescovi, who was named Tournament MVP, scored a game-high 20 points with six made 3-pointers. Long Island native Zakai Zeigler added 14 with three made 3-pointers, while Tyreke Key was Tennessee’s third double-figure scorer with 10 points.a vibe pic.twitter.com/2kapXEeCLg
— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) November 26, 2022
Defensively, Tennessee held Kansas’ duo of Jalen Wilson and Gradey Dick, who entered Friday’s game averaging a combined 41.1 points per game—to just 21 points on 5-for-23 (.217) shooting NO. 24 PURDUE BLASTS NO. 6 GONZAGA Purdue improved to 5-0 with an 84-66 win over No. 6 Gonzaga in the semifinals of the Phil Knight Legacy and advanced to Sunday’s championship game against No. 8 Duke at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon. “I think everyone was really psyched up for this game and that kind of came up that first few minutes with those early game jitters,” said Purdue big man Zach Edey, who scored 15 of his 23 points in the final 15 minutes. “I thought as the game went on we did a really good job of sticking to our scouting report.”
Purdue is searching for its second straight regular-season tournament title after winning the Hall of Fame Tipoff Classic last November (over North Carolina and Villanova). Purdue is now 3-0 all-time against Gonzaga. This was the first meeting since the 2000 Sweet 16, Mark Few’s first season at Gonzaga. Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter Follow ZAGSBLOGHoops on Instagram And Like ZAGS on Facebook“We have a really high basketball IQ, I feel like. We play with a lot of poise.”@TheAndyKatz spoke to Zach Edey about what has helped @BoilerBall be so successful early on in the season. pic.twitter.com/mboqb6kWYF
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) November 26, 2022