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Basketball Team Photo 1973

Last Temple-UT Game Set NCAA Records

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Men's Basketball November 09, 2007

By Tony Williams, UT Sports Information

Tennessee opens the 2007-08 basketball season Friday night in the newly-renovated Thompson-Boling Arena. The Vols take on Temple, a marquee program selected by the coaching staff as the perfect opponent to re-open the Vols??? home court.

Bruce Pearl???s fast-paced style of play will surely be a challenge for the Owls, but fans can rest assured that Temple coach Fran Dunphy will have a plan different from that of the last Owls coaching staff to take on the Vols in Knoxville.

Don Casey, the Owls coach that season, didn???t have to game plan around that pesky shot clock, which was more than a decade from being implemented in the college game.

It was Dec. 15 and it was the championship game of the 1973 Volunteer Classic at Stokely Athletics Center. Tennessee???s high-powered offense was looking to dispose quickly of Temple to win yet another Classic title on its own floor.

Tennessee put points on the board at will. They scored 80 points in a season-opening victory over North Texas State and 65 in a loss to Marquette. But in the two games leading up to the clash with Temple, the Vols had scored 117 and 96 points, respectively. Needless to say, fans were expecting a show.

If anything, a show was not what the fans got. Casey had instructed his squad to merely pass the ball back and forth to keep the rock away from the Vols. That???s exactly what they did. And with head coach Ray Mears??? strict discipline, Tennessee wasn???t about to stray from their traditional zone defense. Neither team would budge.

Tennessee opened the contest with basket from Lem Kosmalski less than a minute into the game. Just under the 18-minute mark, Temple???s Joe Newman scored to tie the game at two. On Tennessee???s ensuing possession, Newman fouled Kosmalski in the act, sending him to the line. Kosmalski made one of two.

The ball went to Temple, and Joe Anderson was fouled by Kosmalski on a made layup at the other end. Anderson???s free throw gave Temple a 5-3 advantage.

Kosmalski was found open under the basket again two minutes later to tie the game at five. Neither team scored for the next three minutes until Ernie Grunfeld converted a layup to put the Vols up 7-5.

No one knew it at the time, but he had just made the game-winning basket.

Temple took possession after the Grunfeld basket with 12:44 to play in the opening period and held for the last shot of the half. Mears felt comfortable with his zone defense and his two-point lead, so he let the Owls stall.

Attempting to tie the game, Temple turned the ball over with just six seconds remaining. The teams went to the locker room with Tennessee ahead, 7-5.

???We were pretty frustrated how that game went,??? said Grunfeld. ???But it will go down as one of the most memorable games in the last forty years because of the low score. Temple held the ball and we stayed in the zone and never came out to guard them.???

To open the second half, Tennessee turned the tables and held the ball until John Snow converted one of two free throws on a Temple technical foul at the 17:58 mark. A personal foul was called on Temple???s Rick Trudeau 14 seconds later, but Tennessee failed to convert on the post-technical possession.

Down 8-5 with 17:44 to play, Temple again decided to hold the ball. The box score play-by-play next mentions a foul on Temple???s Kevin Washington with just 1: 27 remaining in the game.

Snow would score three more points from the foul line in the final 21 seconds. Anderson converted a free throw for the Owls with the clock at zero.

When the buzzer sounded, the crowd had something to cheer about. Tennessee came away victorious 11-6. That???s right, 11-6. Temple had effectively taken the ball out of Tennessee???s hands, yet the Vols had also proven a point that they were sticking to their game plan. In all, Temple held the ball for 32 of 40 minutes. Lomalski was Tennessee???s leading scorer with five points, all of which came in the first half. Anderson led the Owls with four of their six points. The game still holds two NCAA records: the fewest combined points in a game (17) and the fewest points allowed (6).

???They had a good team and didn???t need to do what they did,??? said Mears. ???Later that season, they went to Madison Square Garden and won the Holiday Classic.

???It happened to be a masterpiece because it???s something that will never happen again.???

Information reprinted from a selection in the 2007-08 Tennessee Basketball Media Guide by Josh Pate, UT Sports Information; Grunfeld and Mears quotes from Ray Mears??? Big Orange Memories by Ron Bliss

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