Tennessee basketball is back in the NCAA Tournament for the seventh straight season and is back as a two-seed for the second straight year.
The Vols open up their NCAA Tournament run at 6:50 p.m. ET on Thursday night when they’ll face 15-seed Wofford at Rupp Arena in Lexington. The Terriers are in the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time since 2010 and are seeking their second tournament win in that stretch.
Here’s a look at the Terriers.
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How The Terriers Got Here
Wofford finished sixth in the SoCon in the regular season after posting a 10-8 record during conference play. But the Terriers defeated three-seed ETSU in the quarterfinals, took advantage of an upset and defeated seven-seed VMI in the semifinals and then knocked off five-seed Furman in the championship game.
It was a bad start to the regular season for Wofford as they lost five of its first seven games. But they steadied themselves in conference play and largely traded wins and losses the back half of the conference schedule.
Wofford played just one power five team during the regular season, falling at Duke 86-35 in November. The Terriers best wins of the season came at Saint Louis and at home against North Alabama. They lost to ASUN Champion Lipscomb in their second game of the regular season.
Wofford’s Strengths
This isn’t necessarily a strength or a weakness but like Tennessee, the Terriers play at an incredibly slow pace. This should play to Wofford’s advantage as they look to shorten the game as major underdogs.
Offensively, Wofford relies on the three-pointer with 38.8% of its points coming from beyond the arc. That mark ranks 27th nationally. The Terriers are just solid at shooting the three-pointer, 34.5% as a team, but they have a number of players that can beat opponents from deep. Four Terriers have made over 50 three-pointers this season.
With a balanced offensive attack, Wofford shoots the ball well from the field. Wofford ranks 74th nationally in field goal percentage at 53.3%.
The Terriers’ greatest strength in their rebounding. They rank in the top 35 nationally in both offensive rebounding and defensive rebounding percentage. Wofford puts an emphasis on rebounding the basketball and doesn’t get out and run in transition because of it.
Wofford’s tallest rotational player is 6-foot-9 and they play just two players 6-foot-8 or taller. How well they’ll be able to rebound against a bigger Tennessee team is uncertain.
Wofford’s Weaknesses
Wofford is a bad defensive team. They rank 231st in KenPom adjusted defensive efficiency, a mark that is the fifth worst amongst tournament teams.
The Terriers aren’t dreadful anywhere on the defensive end but they give up a lot of points at the three-point line and at the foul line. Wofford also ranks 322nd nationally in defensive turnover percentage. In simpler terms, Wofford is bad at forcing turnovers.
Offensively, Wofford is not very good at getting to the free throw line and isn’t very good at making free throws when they get there. The Terriers are shooting just 66.8% as a team from the foul line.
Standout Terriers
As previously mentioned, Wofford is a very balanced team. They play nine players in its rotation and none of them are truly stars.
Senior Corey Tripp leads Wofford in scoring with 14.3 points per game on 43.9% shooting from the field and 35.5% shooting from three-point range. Tripp is Wofford’s starting point guard and averages 3.2 assists per game.
While Tripp is the leading scorer, Kyler Filewich is the Terrier’s most intriguing player in my estimation. He enters the NCAA Tournament averaging 11.9 points, 9.4 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game. Tripp was a dominant rebounder in the SoCon, ranking in the top 60th nationally in both offensive and defensive rebounding percentage.
Just as intriguing as Tripp’s rebounding is his ability to pass the basketball. He has a team-high 23.7% assists rate and sees the floor well. Tripp isn’t much of a rim protector though, something Tennessee could exploit in this game.
Senior guard Dillon Bailey is the only other Terrier averaging double-digits scoring with 11.3 points per game. Justin Bailey (no relation) is the true sharpshooter on Wofford’s roster, making 52 three-pointers this season at a 44% clip.
