Tennessee, Oregon State meet in First Round

No. 12 seed Oregon State (17-12) vs. No. 5 seed Tennessee (18-8)

NCAA Tournament First Round, Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis; Friday, 3:30 p.m. EDT

BOTTOM LINE: Oregon State and Tennessee are set to clash in a NCAA first round game. Oregon State won 70-68 against Colorado in its last outing, while Tennessee fell to Alabama in its most recent game, 73-68.

LEADING THE WAY: Ethan Thompson is averaging 15.3 points to lead the way for the Beavers. Warith Alatishe is also a big contributor, maintaining an average of 9.9 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. The Volunteers have been led by Jaden Springer, who is averaging 11.6 points.EXCELLENT ETHAN: Thompson has connected on 33.1 percent of the 130 3-pointers he's attempted and has made 7 of 16 over the last three games. He's also converted 79.7 percent of his free throws this season.

PASSING FOR POINTS: The Volunteers have recently created baskets via assists more often than the Beavers. Tennessee has an assist on 47 of 80 field goals (58.8 percent) over its previous three games while Oregon State has assists on 43 of 75 field goals (57.3 percent) during its past three games.

STINGY DEFENSE: Tennessee has held opposing teams to 63.2 points per game, the lowest figure among all SEC teams.

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This was generated by Automated Insights,