No. 17 Tennessee upends No. 3 Houston at Players Era Festival, but isn't guaranteed a spot in championship game

Tennessee fared much better on Tuesday than in last season's Elite Eight loss to Houston.

In a high-level matchup of two of the best teams in the country, No. 17 Tennessee won a 76-73 thriller to hand No. 3 Houston its first loss of the season at the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas. The win for Tennessee avenged a blowout NCAA tournament loss in March in which Houston held the Volunteers to 15-first-half points.

With the win, Tennessee improves to 2-0 in the 18-team event that lured teams to Las Vegas with NIL payouts. But thanks in part to the event's convoluted format, Tuesday's win didn't guarantee Tennessee a spot in Wednesday's championship or even the third-place game.

Why win doesn't guarantee UT a spot in title game

In an event where multiple teams will finish the first two rounds at 2-0, a messy tiebreaker formula that includes head-to-head results and point differential will determine who advances to the championship round. Only after the remaining four games are played on Tuesday will the championship round be set.

Also not clear in the second year of the event is the payout structure. Per Sportico, the payout appears to be less than the $1 million per team that was promised in last year's inaugural event that featured featured eight teams.

Citing language provided by event organizers, the event "will feature over $20 million in guaranteed sponsor NIL activities" that will be split among the 18 men's teams and four women's teams participating, according to Sportico. How that money is distributed among teams is unclear. It's also not clear how that money filters down to players once it's distributed. That will be determined by compliance clearinghouse NIL Go, according to the Athletic.

Tennessee wins a thriller

But back to the basketball, which was excellent Tuesday night. Each team shot 46% or better from the field. Each team committed just nine turnovers. And the game wasn't decided until the final buzzer sounded.

A Houston team that returned three starters from last season's national finalist and added two five-star freshmen to the lineup entered halftime with a 39-35 lead. But Tennessee kept things close before taking a 47-46 lead with 12:32 remaining.

The Volunteers didn't trail again. Houston continued to punch back to keep the margin within two possessions for the remainder of the game.

And it wasn't settled until Milos Uzan's 3/4-court heave just missed the mark at the buzzer.

Houston's trademark defense stifled Tennessee's own freshman star, holding preseason All-SEC pick Nate Ament to 9 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists on a 1-of-8 shooting effort from the field.

Instead, it was senior All-SEC selection Ja’Kobi Gillespie who carried the weight for Tennessee with a team-high 22 points points that included a 9-for-9 effort at the free-throw line. Gillespie iced the win with four free throws in the final 10 seconds as Houston was forced to foul to stay in the game.

Houston, Kingston Flemings strong in defeat

Houston freshman Kingston Flemings paced the Cougars with 25 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals while shooting 10 of 15 from the field. He shot 3 of 4 from 3, including a fearless pull-up with 5.3 remaining to cut Tennessee's lead to 74-73 and keep the pressure on the Volunteers.

On a Houston roster with three preseason All-Big 12 selections in Uzan, Emanuel Sharp and Joseph Tugler — each of whom played in last season's national championship game — Flemings looked like the best player.

But Tennessee kept its poise down the stretch to hold on for the win. And regardless of who does and doesn't advance to Wednesday's Players Era championship, both of these teams looked capable of making some noise in March.