Chicago, IL – The sixth-seeded Tennessee men’s basketball team advanced to the Midwest Regional Final for the third straight year by defeating second-seeded Iowa State, 76-62, Friday night at the United Center.
No. 23/25 Tennessee (25-11, 11-7 SEC) knocked off a third consecutive foe with 29-plus wins, including a second in a row ranked in the top 10, to earn the fourth Elite Eight appearance in program history. Freshman forward Nate Ament paced the victors with a co-game-high 18 points.
The Volunteers missed seven of their first eight field goals, as Iowa State (29-8, 12-6 B12) took an early four-point lead, but Tennessee then made four of its next seven to go up, 11-10, on a 3-pointer by Ament with 13:05 on the clock. Head coach Rick Barnes‘ team later used an 11-4 burst—it featured another 3-pointer by a freshman, guard Amari Evans—in 3:43 to claim a 24-19 edge with 6:29 left in the frame.
Buoyed by a 7-of-9 field-goal stretch that included six consecutive makes, Tennessee maintained a four-point advantage with under two minutes to go in the stanza. However, Iowa State scored five points in a row to go back in front, 33-32, with 1:16 remaining.
Senior forward Felix Okpara concluded the first-half scoring with a pair of free throws to give the Volunteers a 34-33 lead at the break, with his 10 points, eight rebounds and three blocks all pacing the team. His team, which notched a 22-10 margin on the glass with a 10-2 differential on the offensive side, scored all six second-chance points in the opening 20 minutes, plus had an 11-2 tally in bench scoring.
Tennessee opened the second session on a 10-4 run to take a seven-point cushion, 44-37, with 17:04 to go. The Volunteers continued the half-opening onslaught and soon thereafter tallied seven unanswered points to increase the lead to a 54-41 with 12:57 left. Following an Iowa State basket, junior forward Jaylen Carey gave the Volunteers a game-best 14-point edge, 57-43, just 70 seconds later.
Aided by a scoreless drought of 2:30 by Tennessee, the Cyclones trimmed the margin down to nine, 61-52, with 6:32 on the timer. They got it down to eight with 4:30 remaining, but senior guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie answered with a 3-pointer at the other end just 20 seconds later.
Another 3-pointer, this one by Ament, with 1:58 to go iced the victory by putting the Volunteers back in front by 14, 73-59, tying their largest lead of the night. Iowa State, which trailed by double digits for all but 81 seconds of the final 13:51, never got any closer than 11 after Ament’s dagger.
The Manassas, VA, native scored 11 of his 18 points during a second half in which he went 3-of-3 from the field, 2-of-2 beyond the arc and 3-of-4 at the stripe. He added four rebounds, three assists, two blocks and one steal in the victory.
Gillespie, who went 5-of-6 on 2-pointers, finished with 16 points for Tennessee. Okpara posted a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double, shooting 5-of-6 from the floor and making both his free throws. Carey also had a double-double, notching 11 points and 10 rebounds, alongside a co-career-high four assists.
Redshirt senior guard Nate Heise and senior guard Tamin Lipsey tallied 18 points apiece for Iowa State, but Tennessee held them to a combined 2-of-11 clip from beyond the arc. The Volunteers also limited the nation’s 3-point percentage leader, junior forward Milan Momcilovic, to six points on a 2-of-11 tally from long range.
Overall, Tennessee held the Cyclones to 38.9 percent (21-of-54) shooting from the floor, including a 21.7 percent (5-of-23) mark on 3-pointers. Meanwhile, the final SEC team left standing in the NCAA Tournament shot 50.8 percent (30-of-59) on the offensive end.
The Volunteers dominated the rebounding column, grabbing 43 and allowing just 22. That featured a 16-8 margin on the offensive glass, leading to 14-7 mark in second-chance points. They also had a 20-3 tally in bench points and a 42-30 figure in paint points.
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To keep up with the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team on social media, follow @Vol_Hoops on Instagram and X/Twitter, as well as /tennesseebasketball on Facebook.
Next Up For UT Men’s Basketball
The Tennessee Vols basketball team’s next matchup is an Elite Eight matchup with top-seeded, third-ranked Michigan for a spot in the Final Four. Action is slated for Sunday at 1:16pm CT (2:15pm ET), live on CBS from the United Center.
