The Volunteers are no longer dancing and the emotions of the realization hit some sooner than others.
No. 3 Tennessee went from winning the SEC championship to losing against No. 11 Michigan in the second round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament in the span of six days.
Freshman guard Kennedy Chandler, who tallied 19 points, nine assists and four rebounds in the 76-68 loss, started crying in the handshake line, but there was at least one person there to comfort him—Michigan coach Juwan Howard.
He embraced the young rising star in a moment when he could have been celebrating with the rest of the Wolverines.
Chandler commented about the moment during postgrad interviews, saying, “He’s a great coach, I love him, and he told me to keep my head up and that I played my heart out.”
The guard began playing basketball with Jett Howard, the Michigan coach’s son, in fourth grade.
The Volunteers were favored by a seven-point margin going into Saturday’s game, but Michigan overwhelmed the SEC squad, shooting 50% from the field and 37.5% from three-point range. They were leading Michigan 60-54 with 8:27 to go before being outscored 22-8 for the remainder of the game.
The Wolverines will head to the Sweet 16, facing the winner of No. 7 Ohio State vs. No. 2 Villanova.
