No. 17 Tennessee went undefeated in group play and beat No. 3 Houston in a thriller Tuesday night. But it didn’t earn a spot in the championship game of the Players Era Festival.
Instead No. 12 Gonzaga will take on No. 7 Michigan in Wednesday’s final. Each of those teams also finished 2-0. And thanks to the event’s convoluted format, somebody had to get left out.
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With its 76-73 win over Houston, Tennessee improves to 2-0 in the 18-team event that lured teams to Las Vegas with NIL payouts. Its reward is a spot in the third-place game against Kansas, which also finished 2-0.
What about 2-0 Iowa State? The Cyclones are relegated to the consolation bracket.
Why UT didn’t earn a spot in title game
In an event where five teams finished group play at 2-0, a messy tiebreaker formula that leans on point differential determines who advances to the championship round.
Teams are capped at 20 points per game in differential in an effort that was established to avoid encouraging teams to run up the score. It didn’t work Tuesday night.
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Gonzaga beat No. 8 Alabama by 10 on Monday, then closed Tuesday’s action with a 100-61 blowout of Maryland. Michigan, meanwhile, blitzed San Diego State, 94-54 Monday night then handily beat No. 21 Auburn, 102-72 on Tuesday.
Michigan maxed out with a plus-40 point differential, while Gonzaga finished at plus-30 for the best differentials of the tournament. Both teams had the benefit of knowing their targets scores while playing in the final games of the night.
Tennessee, meanwhile, beat Rutgers Monday night by 25 points, then eked out a 3-point win over Houston that was arguably the best win of the event. It added up to an adjusted 23-point differential. Kansas finished plus-21 with wins over unranked Syracuse and Notre Dame to earn the other spot in the third-place game.
No. 15 Iowa State beat No. 14 St. John’s and unranked Creighton by a combined 19 points and won’t play in the championship round at all.
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The upside here is two great early-season matchups on Wednesday. Gonzaga-Michigan and Tennessee-Kansas could be fantastic games. But even TNT’s broadcasters were confused over who would play whom late Gonzaga’s blowout of Maryland.
And this is the event that’s coming at the expense of the Battle 4 Atlantis and the beloved Maui Invitational.
Who gets paid what?
Money, of course, is the motivation here. Teams are showing up because the Players Era Festival is making it worth their while.
But the payout structure also provides confusion — at least to the public. Per Sportico, the payout appears to be less than the $1 million per team that was promised in last year’s inaugural event that featured eight teams.
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Citing language provided by event organizers, the event “will feature over $20 million in guaranteed sponsor NIL activities” that will be split among the 18 men’s teams and four women’s teams participating, according to Sportico. How that money is distributed among teams is unclear.
It’s also not clear how that money filters down to players once it’s distributed. That will be determined by compliance clearinghouse NIL Go, according to the Athletic.
Nate Ament didn’t have his best night, but Tennessee prevailed in a thriller over No. 3 Houston.
(Zach Del Bello/Players Era via Getty Images)
But back to the basketball, which was excellent between Houston and Tennessee.
In a high-level matchup of two of the best teams in the country, Tennessee won a 76-73 thriller to hand Houston its first loss of the season. The win for Tennessee avenged a blowout NCAA tournament loss in March in which Houston held the Volunteers to 15 first-half points.
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Each team shot 46% or better from the field. Each team committed just nine turnovers. And the game wasn’t decided until the final buzzer sounded.
A Houston team that returned three starters from last season’s national finalist and added two five-star freshmen to the lineup entered halftime with a 39-35 lead. But Tennessee kept things close before taking a 47-46 lead with 12:32 remaining.
The Volunteers didn’t trail again. Houston continued to punch back to keep the margin within two possessions for the remainder of the game. And it wasn’t settled until Milos Uzan’s 3/4-court heave just missed the mark at the buzzer.
Houston’s trademark defense stifled Tennessee’s own freshman star, holding preseason All-SEC pick Nate Ament to 9 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists on a 1-of-8 shooting effort from the field.
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Instead, it was senior All-SEC selection Ja’Kobi Gillespie who carried the weight for Tennessee with a team-high 22 points points that included a 9-for-9 effort at the free-throw line. Gillespie iced the win with four free throws in the final 10 seconds as Houston was forced to foul to stay in the game.
Houston, Kingston Flemings strong in defeat
Houston freshman Kingston Flemings paced the Cougars with 25 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals while shooting 10 of 15 from the field. He shot 3 of 4 from 3, including a fearless pull-up with 5.3 seconds remaining to cut Tennessee’s lead to 74-73 and keep the pressure on.
On a Houston roster with three preseason All-Big 12 selections in Uzan, Emanuel Sharp and Joseph Tugler — each of whom played in last season’s national championship game — Flemings looked like the best player Tuesday night.
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But Tennessee kept its poise down the stretch to hold on for the win. And regardless of who advances to Wednesday’s Players Era championship, both of these teams looked capable of making some noise in March.
