Today at 2:45 p.m. ET on CBS the No. 6 University of Masachussettes Minutemen will attempt to prove their many doubters wrong against the No. 11 seed Tennessee Volunteers. Live stream the game for free by clicking this link. UMass fans can hear the action on WEEI 105.5 FM, while Tennessee fans can do likewise on WNML The Sports Animal.
Despite having already gone through a battle of a play-in game vs. Iowa, and being seeded five spots lower than UMass, they will tip off today as four-point favorites over the Minutemen.
That's likely because UMass has been absent from NCAA Tournament play for nearly two decades. Former player and now coach Derek Kellogg has plans to change all that, which begin with knocking off the Vols.
"I'd like to kind of write our own legacy, our own history, as far as where we're not looking back but now we're looking forward," Kellogg said Thursday. "Hopefully this is an opportunity to get UMass where we're a team that's continuously looking for NCAA tournament appearances and postseason play."
Tennessee is long and athletic, typical of a high-end SEC team, while the Minutemen get their cues from one of the nation's tiniest players, five feet, nine inch point guard Chaz Williams. Underestimating him based on his stature is a fool's errand; he scored 15.7 points per game to go with seven assists, while hitting 36.5 percent of his 3-pointers.
"The atmosphere is beautiful and it's tremendous," Williams said. "It gives you kind of the feel like it's a Super Bowl, it's a World Series game. So it's just pretty exciting just to know that we're here for a purpose and we have business to take care of."
The Volunteers could be fatigued after their war with Iowa that stretched into overtime, but head coach Cuonzo Martin thought the battle was good prep. "I thought it was great for our guys to play a game like that, a physical game," Martin said. "I think it'll help us because now you have a game under your belt. Now it's just basketball."
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