Tennessee routs inexperienced UMass

Massachusetts never found its rhythm in its first NCAA tournament game since 1998, from the Minutemen's stymied offense to their inability to harass Tennessee into mistakes.

The nerves were there, too, in yesterday's 86-67 loss to the Volunteers in the second round of the Midwest Regional. The Minutemen fell behind by double figures early, trailed by 20 points before halftime and never got closer than 10.

"Probably like a lot of people had jitters," said sophomore Derrick Gordon, the only UMass player with NCAA experience from his previous stop at Western Kentucky. "This was their first time playing in it. I had a little jitters myself. I think that was the cause of the first half and they beat us a lot down inside, and it was hard to catch back [up]."

UMass came in averaging 76 points and shooting 46 percent, but didn't come close to those numbers against the Vols, finishing at 42 percent. UMass also forced just three first-half turnovers.

Jarnell Stokes scored a career-high 26 points and grabbed 14 rebounds (equaling a school record for an NCAA Tournament game), and Jordan McRae added 21 points for the Volunteers (23-12), the No. 11 seed.

Chaz Williams and Maxie Esho scored 12 points each for UMass.