Players Era Day 2 notes: No. 17 Tennessee shuts down No. 3 Houston

Matt Norlander is on the Vegas Strip and bouncing back and forth between the two arenas hosting this year’s Players Era Championship. He’ll be providing frequent updates and insider information throughout each day of the event, so check back in regularly. You can read his Monday notebook here. 

LAS VEGAS — Among the many things the Players Era will give college hoops this week, some additional crystallization on which teams have the goods ranks near the top.

And on Tuesday, we learned Tennessee is again one of the most physical and impressive defensive teams in the country. The biggest matchup of Day 2 played out at MGM Grand Garden Arena: No. 17 Tennessee 76, No. 3 Houston 73. The Vols atoned for their 19-point Elite Eight loss to the Cougars last season.

Tennessee was able to rip the dub thanks to holding Houston scoreless over a seven-minute span in the second half while also gaining 10 points during UH’s drought. 

The game was as good of an environment as any through the first two days of Players Era. 

Tennessee got 22 points from Ja’Kobi Gillespie, who led an all-around inspiring effort for Rick Barnes’ crew. It the definition of a grown man’s game. 

“These guys figured it out themselves, and they were very talkative, very active in the time-outs, and got some good play with our post guys,” Barnes said. “Just being with them and hearing them talk, coach each other, hearing them talk about adjustments that need to be made is a step in the right direction.”

Kelvin Sampson couldn’t hide his frustration afterward, however. Tennessee shot 29 free throws to Houston’s 11. The Cougars typically control the conversation from a physicality standpoint, but the Volunteers unquestionably got the better of the Coogs on Tuesday night. 

The game was also a breakout one for Bishop Boswell, a 6-4 sophomore combo guard who was a key cog in helping Tennessee keep Houston just enough at bay over the final five minutes. Boswell finished with 10 points, four rebounds and three assists. His on-ball defense was a beacon for Tennessee overall.

“He’s becoming one of the best defensive guards in the country and there’s no doubt that it’s a hard role to put a player to want to buy into, to want to do it, but he’s all about team,” Barnes said of Boswell. “He wants to win more than anything else, and we knew during the whole recruiting process he was a winner and he would do whatever it would take. We’re asking him to fill a major role and he’s embraced it.”

ISU’s Otzelberger says Players Era about wins more than money

The Players Era Championship has caused more conversation, buzz, criticism and intrigue than anything else so far this season.

Some of that is because it’s got some obvious flaws. Let’s address the biggest one right now. 

On Tuesday, No. 15 Iowa State beat Creighton with aplomb, 78-60. The Cyclones are 2-0 in the event after winning a riveting battle over No. 14 St. John’s on Monday.

But in the immediate hours after this win, they had no idea when they’ll play on Wednesday nor who their opponent will be. 

That’s because Players Era’s 18-team format isn’t built upon a bracket. When you don’t have bracket play AND you don’t have all matchups predetermined, you’re left to rely on game scores to settle the rest of the schedule. The primary tiebreaker is average margin of victory (with a cap of 20 points to avoid incentivizing teams heedlessly running up the score). Iowa State’s average margin of victory after two games is 9.5. 

It won’t be enough to qualify for Wednesday’s championship game — and might not be good enough to even make the third-place game, because we could have five of the 18 teams go 2-0. If ISU’s plus-19 point differential is fifth-best, the Cyclones won’t play for any additional NIL money. 

The event’s abnormal format isn’t lost on some fans who flew out here to take in hoops on the Strip. As final seconds died out Tuesday, an Iowa State backer sitting in Section 220 was shouting to ISU’s Milan Momcilovic, “YOU NEED TO MAX IT! SHOOT IT!” He knew one more basket could be the difference between playing for first place or playing in the third-place game. Momcilovic opted not to shoot.

I did a walk-and-talk with Cyclones coach TJ Otzelberger after the win to chat about the unusual (and criticized) tiebreaker scenarios in play. The situation on Tuesday was muddled all the more by the fact that Otzelberger says he owes his career to Creighton coach Greg McDermott, who gave him his first break in 2006 by bringing him on staff at Iowa State (when McDermott was in his first season coaching that program).

“Going into it, you know that point deferential is a part of this,” Otzelberger told CBS Sports. “The respect I have for Coach McDermott and his program, we’re not going to put the game in position where we’re trying to run up the score and get extra points late to win by a greater margin. To me, the relationship and the character of our program is more important than that. The easy solution would have been if we would have been up by [20], then it would have been fine, but that wasn’t the case. We want to do the right thing.”

Players Era’s margin-of-victory rule has made it vulnerable to easy criticism. And that noise has also overshadowed a more important element of the entire experience: winning games. Players are already getting paid to play in this event, so the tiebreaker is really about who gets a chance at the most money. But, as Otzelberger told me, the more valuable thing for his team is the Quad 1 wins for the taking.

“You’re here to win games, you’re here to get better as a team and a program,” Otzelberger said. “The main thing is to come out and give it your best to win the game. And I understand there’s other factors and variables that go into this event, but we’re just gonna focus on being at our best to come out win the game.” 

By the way, ISU won without starting point guard Tamin Lipsey, who sat due to a sore groin. His availability for Wednesday is questionable, Otzelberger said. 

The Cyclones are off to their first 6-0 start since 2021-22 and averaging a sizzling 90.5 points. It’s looking like a top-10 team in the country.

Will it be enough to play for the championship on Wednesday? Sit tight. There could be as many as five 2-0 teams battling for two spots in the championship game. I’ll update this story throughout the night with the latest as we learn more here in Vegas. 

St. John’s bounces back strong

For as frustrating as Monday’s 83-82 outcome was for St. John’s, a good sign for Rick Pitino’s team. The Red Storm handed Baylor its first loss of the season with a cruise-control 86-81 win. Both teams will find out their Wednesday opponents at the end of Tuesday night. 

“I think what I enjoyed the most last night was the devastation in the eyes of our players,” Pitino said. “And you really know a team with class. I don’t mean the way they act off the court, which they act great, but a class team really, really focuses in, doesn’t hang their heads and brings it, and these guys did. I think for the first seven, eight minutes, we could have given the Knicks a game before losing by 40. So it was a brilliant first eight minutes of the game.”

Bryce Hopkins had 26 points and Oziyah Sellers added 22, providing the type of offensive firepower that Pitino and his staff were hoping to acquire in the portal. 

“I haven’t begged very often about players shooting the ball, but I begged these two guys to take more shots, and they did tonight. They were both brilliant,” Pitino said. 

The Big East has been rickety league-wide through the first three weeks of the season, and with Creighton starting 0-2 at Players Era, St. John’s getting out of Vegas at 2-1 would be ideal to help offset the 18 total losses across the conference.

2025 Players Era scores, schedule

Monday’s scores

Tuesday’s scores, schedule

Wednesday’s schedule

Premiere Four (Field determined after Tuesday’s games)

Consolation games, TBD

Thursday’s schedule

Consolation games, TBD