Find out from Colin Coyne what happened to the bracket in the Tennessee basketball locker room.

In Charlotte, North Carolina, a loud crack reverberated through the Tennessee basketball locker room and down the Spectrum Center corridor on Thursday.

Following the sound, an NCAA staff member emerged carrying a foam board portraying the Charlotte bracket pod. The “Tennessee” label was askew, and a fracture ran through the board.

What led to this mishap?

Colin Coyne, the senior walk-on for Tennessee, explained it as an unintentional error. Despite feeling jubilant after their 83-49 victory against Saint Peter’s, the No. 2 seed Volunteers, Coyne accidentally broke through the bracket board typically used for displaying advancing teams’ name placards.

Coyne confessed, “Every time I looked at that board, I thought it was a type of bulletin board material. I found out the hard way.”

The sequence of events surrounding the broken bracket in Tennessee’s locker room:

Initially, Dalton Knecht denied any involvement, suggesting it was Josiah-Jordan James. However, James clarified that it was Coyne, who happened to be in the opposite corner of the cramped locker room.

“He really smashed it,” remarked guard Santiago Vescovi. “He completely broke it. He took it literally. He did exactly what was expected.”

The Vols (25-8) demonstrated their dominance over the Saint Peter’s team (19-14), which was outmatched throughout the game. Next, they will face the seventh-seeded Texas team (21-12) on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, airing on CBS, vying for a spot in the Sweet 16 in Detroit.

Tennessee asserted its dominance from the outset by feeding the ball inside to Jonas Aidoo consistently to establish his presence early on. Dalton Knecht showcased his sharpshooting skills as usual, while Zeigler orchestrated the team’s efforts. Santiago Vescovi contributed with a couple of successful 3-pointers, and Tobe Awaka performed solidly in the paint.

The Vols exhibited elite defensive prowess, with the only critique from Josiah-Jordan James being the need to reduce turnovers, as UT committed 15.

The opening game was commanding enough that Colin Coyne eagerly rushed onto the court when given the chance to play. He heard his name called once more in the locker room to affix the “Tennessee” placard for the next round.

“I was instructed to just slap it,” Coyne recounted. “I tried to do it forcefully, but I may have exerted a bit too much.”

Tennessee had a redemptive performance before facing Texas for a Sweet 16 berth. Following their loss to Mississippi State in the SEC tournament, the team spent the initial 48 hours immersed in film study.

“We understood Nashville didn’t go as planned, so we had to come out focused, aggressive, and physical,” Knecht remarked.

James emphasized that practices over the past week were centered on accountability, echoing the message delivered by Vols coach Rick Barnes after the loss to Mississippi State: Every upcoming game could potentially be the last, a scenario they were keen to avoid. The team challenged each other to elevate their intensity after two games of lackluster performance, and it paid dividends in the first game.

Vescovi sensed the team’s readiness before they even left the locker room, noting an energy and excitement pulsating among the players.

“That level of effort is what we need every night if we aim to continue playing,” Vescovi concluded.