The Vols were victorious, 64-42, at Baha Mar Convention Center in Nassau, Bahamas.
Tennessee guard Chaz Lanier led all scorers with 26 points, including 18 points in the final 18 minutes of the contest. He converted 10-of-23 field goal attempts and 6-of-12 three-point attempts.
Igor Milicic Jr. led the Vols in rebounding (8), while Zakai Zeigler led Tennessee in assists (6).
Tennessee will next play Baylor on Friday in the Baha Mar Championship. Tipoff is slated for 9:30 p.m. EST and will be televised by CBS Sports Network.
This quarter was uneventful, but that’s OK with the win.
Notre Dame didn’t need to do anything fancy to close out Virginia. Never mind that it failed to score on fourth-and-goal to cap a lengthy drive that began in the third quarter. It already had done enough to secure a 35-14 victory, which featured Tony Muskett running for a garbage-time touchdown.
Even though [autotag]Zac Yoakum[/autotag] capped another long drive by missing a 36-yard field goal, hardly anybody at Notre Dame Stadium cared at that point. The Irish were going to cap their home season with another victory. At least for the moment, the loss to Northern Illinois that happened there in September felt like a distant memory.
Obviously, Irish fans aren’t going to forget about that defeat to the Huskies entirely because it still threatens to derail their team’s chances at the College Football Playoff.
The focus now was on the seniors playing perhaps their final game in South Bend. It never is easy for Irish fans to say goodbye to those players, but all good things must end. If this is it for them at home, it was a nice way to go out.
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Based on how dominant Notre Dame was in the first half against Virginia, it was somewhat understandable if they chose to relax. That was evidenced by the fact that the first drive of the second half ended with [autotag]Riley Leonard[/autotag] throwing an interception. But the third quarter still ended with a 35-7 Irish lead.
The Cavaliers opted to replace Anthony Colandrea with backup quarterback Tony Muskett, whose first series was a three-and-out. [autotag]Jeremiyah Love[/autotag] then had a 76-yard touchdown run on the Irish’s next drive. However, Muskett responded with an 18-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-1 to get the Cavaliers on the scoreboard. Both scoring drives last less than two minutes.
When the third quarter ran out, the Irish were on the verge of putting more points on the scoreboard with a third-and-goal. With a huge lead though, they were in no hurry to find the end zone again. It seems inevitable though.
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This quarter lasted over an hour and was quite crazy.
If you were hoping for more action between Notre Dame and Virginia in the second quarter, you would have gotten some. In a quarter that lasted over an hour in real time, the Irish had one crazy moment after another, and it ended with them holding a 28-0 halftime lead.
Both teams continued to struggle offensively for the first few minutes. After [autotag]Max Hurleman[/autotag] muffed a punt and the Cavaliers recovered, the Irish’s 7-0 lead appeared to be in jeopardy. But the Irish took the ball right back a few plays later when [autotag]Rod Heard II[/autotag] forced a Kobe Pace fumble that was recovered by [autotag]Xavier Watts[/autotag].
The difference between the two turnovers is that the Irish took advantage. Their offense had its most productive drive of the day, and it culminated when [autotag]Riley Leonard[/autotag] hit [autotag]Jayden Harrison[/autotag] for an 8-yard touchdown.
On the next possession, Leonard fired another apparent touchdown pass to Harrison from 78 yards out, but it was wiped out when [autotag]Pat Coogan[/autotag] was penalized for illegal hands to the face.
Another apparent touchdown then was wiped out after a very confusing sequence. Faced with fourth-and-11, the Irish opted to fake a punt and try a fumblerooski, and [autotag]Jordan Faison[/autotag] ran the ball 73 yards to the house. However, the officials called it back for illegal formation, much to the chagrin of the Notre Dame Stadium fans and the NBC announcers.
But that touchdown was dying to be scored, and it finally was after [autotag]Adon Shuler[/autotag] returned an interception 46 yards and Leonard immediately faked a handoff before firing to an open [autotag]Cooper Flanagan[/autotag] in the end zone from 2 yards out.
The Irish weren’t finished though. Anthony Colandrea threw another interception, this one to [autotag]Leonard Moore[/autotag]. On the final of three subsequent passes, [autotag]Mitchell Evans[/autotag] had a 16-yard touchdown.
Colandrea kept feeling generous though because Watts picked off another one of his passes in the waning seconds of the quarter. Although [autotag]Mitch Jeter[/autotag] missed a 54-yard field goal as time expired, the Irish still deserved a rest in the locker room after everything that had just happened.
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Notre Dame appeared to begin its Senior Day game against Virginia in exciting fashion. Former Irish running back-turned-receiver Chris Tyree muffed the opening kickoff, and the ball was scooped up by [autotag]Max Hurleman[/autotag], who ran it into the end zone. However, the ball could not be advanced because there was a muff instead of a fumble on the play.
The Irish instead had to start the game at the Cavaliers 25-yard line, but the setback proved to be temporary. The Cavaliers appeared to force a three-and-out, but a roughing the passer penalty gave the Irish a fresh set of downs from the 4. [autotag]Jeremiyah Love[/autotag] promptly scored, and the Irish had a 7-0 lead.
The first-quarter scoring halted after that though as both teams mainly had a bunch of three-and-outs with the Cavaliers turning the ball over on downs somewhere in between. At least some of that though can be attributed to the Irish’s dominant defense. They’ll need that to justify the College Football Playoff committee’s decision to include them in the rankings so far.
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The Cavaliers will need all the luck they can get.
Notre Dame continues to have a big season on defense. No matter who’s on the other sideline, they can’t count on scoring too much. It’s become as much a part of life as paying taxes, at least this year. There’s not much their opponents can do besides hope their own defense is nearly perfect.
Virginia will be the next team to crack the code that is the Irish’s defense. Its best shot will be to lean into its passing game, but that will be difficult with the Irish’s pass defense being among the absolute best in the country. The situation the Cavaliers find themselves in is almost impossible to emerge unscathed from, so the only thing it can do is play how it best knows how and pray it works out.
To illustrate just how tough a task the Cavaliers have, look no further than the below rankings that compare their offense t the Irish’s defense:
This time, the Mustangs won’t be fresh off the death penalty.
Notre Dame football plays five ACC opponents every season in exchange for retaining its independence. While we are told who the Irish will play well into the next decade, that opponents list can change anytime. We just got an example of that.
The ACC has announced that the Irish will host SMU during the 2026 season on a date yet to be determined. This game will replace the one against Virginia that was scheduled for Oct. 17 of that season. This will allow the Cavaliers to play the first of two games they have scheduled against West Virginia, a series that was concurrently announced.
This will be the first time the Irish and Mustangs have met since the Irish earned a crushing 59-6 victory in 1989. At that time, the Irish were the top team in the country and fresh off their most recent national championship. The Mustangs, meanwhile, were fresh off the death penalty sidelining them for two years.
The playing field should be a little more even this time. That should at least make this game more competitive.
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The Notre Dame men’s basketball team is on the verge of something special. It won’t happen this year, but it likely will when the Irish’s top-ranked 2025 recruiting class comes in. Until then, there’s interest in where the Irish currently stand.
This will be the first time the Irish have played on CBS since they picked up a 64-63 road victory over Kentucky on Dec. 12, 2020. It didn’t broadcast any of the three games the Irish played during their last NCAA Tournament appearance in 2022.
The last time the network broadcast a game from South Bend was an 82-55 loss to Virginia on Jan. 26, 2019. The Cavaliers went on to win that year’s national championship:
CBS Sports Unveils its 2024-25 College Basketball Regular-Season Schedule with Nearly 300 Games Across Platforms
Here’s hoping the Irish will rise to the occasion of getting national exposure on college basketball’s most prestigious broadcast coverage.
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Notre Dame has part of the ACC for over a decade now, and it has gone against some legendary coaches during that time. While Virginia’s Tony Bennett doesn’t have quite the reputation of legends like Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim or Roy Williams, he has done a great job of building his own legacy.
When the Irish visit Charlottesville on Jan. 25 this season, the Cavaliers will look very different on the sidelines because Bennett reportedly has announced his retirement effective immediately. That this is happening less than a month before the start of the season is nothing short of surprising.
The Irish have gone 3-13 against Virginia since joining the ACC, and Bennett’s tenure with the Cavailers’ predates that period. But even before that, the Irish learned how good Bennett was when he coached Washington State to a 61-41 win over them in the second round of the 2008 NCAA Tournament.
Bennett retires having won one national championship, two national coach of the year awards, six ACC regular-season championships, two ACC Tournament championships and four ACC Coach of the Year awards. He has an all-time record of 433-169:
Best of luck to Bennett in whatever comes next in his life.
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This is unexpected news for the program, especially occurring so close to the start of the upcoming season. There is still a lot to learn about this decision, and fans will likely get more details at Bennett’s press conference on Friday morning.
But no matter the reason, Virginia still needs a head coach on the sidelines for the 2024-25 campaign. One would assume that the hire would come from their internal staff based on familiarity with the roster and system, so here are a few names they will likely consider.
One of these names will likely become the interim head coach. Then after the season, depending on how it goes, perhaps they get promoted to have the gig on a full-time level.
Ron Sanchez
Brett Rojo-USA TODAY Sports
Current:
Associate head coach, Virginia (2023 – Present)
Past:
Head coach, Charlotte (2018 – 2023)
Assistant coach, Virginia (2009 – 2018)
Assistant coach, Washington State (2003 – 2009)
Assistant coach, Indiana (2001 – 2003)
Assistant coach, SUNY Delhi (1999 – 2001)
Assistant coach, SUNY Oneonta (1996 – 1999)
Jason Williford
Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Current:
Associate head coach, Virginia
Past:
Assistant head coach, Virginia
Assistant coach, American University
Assistant coach, Boston University
Assistant coach, John Marshall High School
Professional basketball player
UVA collegiate basketball player and captain
Brad Soderberg
(Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
Current:
Scouting, Virginia (2021 – Present)
Past:
Assistant coach, Virginia (2015 – 2021)
Head coach, Lindenwood (2009 – 2015)
Head coach, Saint Louis (2002 – 2007)
Assistant coach, Saint Louis (2001 – 2002)
Interim coach, Wisconsin (2000 – 2001)
Assistant coach, Wisconsin (1995 – 2000)
Head coach, South Dakota State (1993 – 1995)
Head coach, Loras (1988 – 1993)
Assistant coach, Loras (1987 – 1988)
Assistant coach, Fort Hays State (1986 – 1987)
Graduate assistant, Colorado State (1985 – 1986)
Assistant coach, Wisconsin–Stevens Point (1984-1985)
