Tennessee basketball tumbles to Purdue in Maui Invitational in foul-riddled affair

Tennessee basketball and Purdue squared off in an anticipated top-10 matchup in the Maui Invitational on Tuesday. It got a free-throw shooting contest and a foul festival instead.

The Vols and Boilermakers combined to shoot 78 free throws and were called for 52 fouls in the tournament semifinals. UT lost 71-67 to Purdue at SimpliFi Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu and will play in the third-place game Wednesday.

Dalton Knecht led No. 8 Tennessee (4-1) with 16 points against No. 2 Purdue (5-0). Boilermakers guard Fletcher Loyer tied a career-high 27 points. He averaged 6.8 points per game entering Tuesday.

Jordan Gainey of Tennessee had 15 points. He scored all his points in the second half, hitting three critical 3-pointers including two that tied the game in the 4:17. He tied the game 64-64 with 3:07 to play but Purdue owned the final stretch.

Tennessee had two field goals in 17:56 spanning the 4:46 mark of the first to the 6:50 mark of the second half.

It was an unwatchable free-throw shooting contest

Purdue was 29-for-48 at the free-throw line, while the Vols were 21-for-30.

Free throws sustained Purdue during a brutal offensive first half. Then the inverse was true in the second half as Tennessee survived with free-throw shooting as it went through a long field-goal drought. Tennessee scored 13 points at the free-throw line in the first 12 minutes of the second half. It didn’t shoot a free throw in the final 8 minutes and 11 of its final 12 field goals were 3-pointers.

Purdue was 2-for-10 to open from the line before hitting 12 straight and finishing 16-for-26 in the first half.

Zach Edey produced but Tennessee got him in foul trouble

Purdue center Zach Edey was a terror on the court for Tennessee, but he wasn’t on the court in stretches due to foul trouble. Edey picked up his second foul with 4:17 to play in the first half and got his fourth with 9:00 to play.

The 7-foot-4 center was a force on the interior and got all of Tennessee’s forwards in foul trouble. Tobe Awaka, who played after injuring his right ankle Monday against Syracuse, fouled out at the 3:44 mark.

Purdue closed on a 7-2 run after Jonas Aidoo fouled out with 2:24 to play. Edey had 23 points and 10 rebounds. He was 9-for-17 on free throws.

Rick Barnes got his first technical since 2021

Tennessee coach Rick Barnes got a technical foul at the 5:15 mark of the first half following an apparent push from Edey on Vols guard Josiah-Jordan James while battling for a rebound. It was Barnes’ first technical since Jan. 2, 2021, against Alabama.

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“When I got the technical foul, I know I was right on that call,” Barnes said to ESPN at halftime. “We got pushed.”

Loyer made both free throws from the technical and then made two free throws from the personal foul, which was called on Gainey. Loyer’s four free throws trimmed UT’s lead to 24-23.

Up next

Tennessee faces No. 1 Kansas or No. 5 Marquette on Wednesday (2:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2) in the third-place game.

Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on Twitter @ByMikeWilson. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee basketball tumbles to Purdue in Maui Invitational