Tennessee basketball's tantalizing season tanked by consistent inconsistencies in Sweet 16

NEW YORK — Olivier Nkamhoua hunched over on the perimeter of the huddle.

The Tennessee basketball forward placed his hands on his knees, the inevitable emotions bubbling. He stood up, turned around, and wiped his face with his jersey. Then he shuffled to the huddle and put his arms around Josiah-Jordan James and Tyreke Key.

The scoreboard at Madison Square Garden read 4.8 seconds to play. Tennessee’s tantalizing season was in shreds, the final moments primed to disappear.

“We believed we could make it a lot further than this,” Nkamhoua said. “We believed we could make it all the way. Come out one time unprepared and it is over.”

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It is over for Tennessee and it ended in an all-too-predictable way. No. 4 Tennessee (25-11) tanked against No. 9-seeded Florida Atlantic (34-3) in a 62-55 loss Thursday, five days after a stirring and vibrant win against Duke to earn the Sweet 16 berth.

The final pages reflected the late chapters of this Vols team, which began with brilliance before it devolved into injuries and issues. It had no consistency since January ended. It was capable of following a dandy with a dud and habitually did so. It teased with its talent and potential. It paired marquee moments with misery. It’s going home because of all of it, a Final Four-caliber Vols team bowing out with a whimper because an inferior opponent played harder than it did.

“I just know we were capable of doing a lot more than what we showed out there,” senior forward Uros Plavsic said.

Tennessee proved that much. It started with an exhibition win against Gonzaga in October. It beat Kansas, Texas and Alabama. It played its best game yet against Duke on March 18, bullying the Blue Devils and looking like it had a shot to reach the program's first Final Four and get Rick Barnes over that March hump after 20 years. It is UT's third Final Four-level team with only two Sweet 16s to show for it.

"The Sweet 16 is something to be proud about,” Barnes said. “When you get there, you want more. You want an Elite Eight, you want a Final Four, you want a national championship game.”

Tennessee also proved to be maddening with a streaky offense and unreliable production. It leaned heavily on its defense, the top-ranked unit in the nation and a powerful force. It rebounded at an elite clip. But Thursday proved the risk with relying on defense with an unstable offense. The defense and rebounding faltered. Tennessee had no answer offensively, its familiar failing flashing like Times Square.

The Vols could make a five-point lead seem like a 50-point margin, which happened against the Owls when they finally started making 3-pointers in the second half.

"Of course we’re disappointed,” senior guard Santiago Vescovi said. “We wanted everything and we know that we could’ve played better. But still, really proud of this team and they way we fought. We stayed resilient the whole time.”

Resilient has been Barnes’ buzzword for weeks regarding this team and deservedly so. It won 25 games with a revolving lineup. It dealt with a bevy of injuries, including missing arguably its best four players for stretches. Zakai Zeigler was the major blow when he suffered a season-ending ACL tear on Feb. 28. James missed 12 games in three four-game stints and was never healthy. Julian Phillips missed four February games. Vescovi missed a pair.

Tennessee players called it a hard season Thursday, noting players and coaches alike didn’t know what the roster would be game to game. UT had its full roster 12 times in 36 games and wasn't complete since Feb. 8.

“I honestly don’t even think we got to see the full potential of what this team could be,” Phillips said in regards to the injuries.

The Texas win — an 82-71 thumping on Jan. 28 — was probably the peak, the fully healthy Vols waxing the Longhorns. UT was 7-8 the rest of the season after its 18-3 start as resiliency met reality.

Nkamhoua paused when asked what went wrong for Tennessee on Thursday. He exhaled. He paused again. He took a breath.

“They played harder than us,” Nkamhoua said.

He paused a final time.

“Yeah,” he said.

Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on Twitter @ByMikeWilson. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee basketball game: Season tanked by Sweet 16 inconsistencies