Ah! So close. Back in 2008, Rick Majerus's St. Louis Billikens scored 20 points (and held George Washington to 49 points, so that was a plus) in their first conference game of the season, meaning the teams combined for 69 during the contest. Last night, Georgetown and Tennessee came perilously near to finishing below that total, ending the game 37-36, in Georgetown's favor. It is, obviously, the lowest output to win a game in the shot clock era. Cal once scored five points in a half—hahaha, right? In the other half of that game, they scored more points than either Georgetown or Tennessee did in the full 40 minutes last night.
The box score from that Billikens game featured a St. Louis high-scorer that racked up only five points—the immortal Bryce Husak. Last night's atrocity didn't produce anything that striking, but the game-high—for the whole game—was eight, attained by five different players. The player of the game, despite the loss, was probably UT's Trae Golden, who missed both of his threes, clanked his lone free throw, and turned the ball over thrice. The teams shot a combined 4/23 from distance, and 7/20 from the free-throw line. The first field goal of the game came after five misses and two fouls; the last points from either team came with 4:08 left in the second half. In five games each, the Hoyas and Vols had been averaging 70.2 and 71.2, respectively.
At least it was a hard-fought game, though, the type that grind-it-out coaches in the Big East love. In his press-conference after the game, Georgetown coach John Thompson III lauded his team's...
Oh. Let us never speak of it again.