PHILADELPHIA — The Vols live to dance another day.
Tennessee basketball is headed back to the Sweet 16 after it defeated Virginia 79-72 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The six-seeded Vols and three-seed Cavaliers traded blows down the stretch before the higher seed ultimately prevailed. Tennessee (24-11) got big nights from some of its depth pieces to help down Virginia (30-6) and advance to the second weekend for the fourth straight season.
Four Vols scored in the double digits, Ja’Kobi Gillespie tops among them with 21 points. Bishop Boswell enjoyed a career day, notching 13 points and a personal-best nine assists.
Thijs De Ridder paced the Cavaliers with 22 points.
Defense propels Vols
After Virginia kick-started its offense with some of its trademark success from behind the arc, Tennessee turned to its bread and butter to grab its first significant advantage of the game.
The Vols generated seven consecutive stops on the defensive end to race towards a 12-0 run. After he emerged from a trip to the free throw line empty-handed, Jaylen Carey dropped in a pair of layups to get things going. As Tennessee got back in transition, it did a solid job of locking down the perimeter at each spot on the floor.
Amari Evans and Boswell led the stand, holding Cavaliers’ guards Malik Thomas and Jacari White at bay after they started the game hot from 3-point range. Keeping Virginia’s potency from range low would need to continue.
Bishop breaks out
Not known for his reputation as a sharpshooter, utility guard Boswell maintained a high level of defensive play while giving the Vols some much-needed depth scoring.
He tallied a team-high nine points in the first 20 minutes, draining a career-high three triples while spending most of opening half on the floor. With usual scoring suspects Nate Ament and J.P. Estrella in foul trouble, Boswell’s contribution helped his guys maintain a 36-31 lead at the break.
He registered five assists to boot, but more importantly, took care of the basketball to a tune Tennessee hadn’t seen for a majority of this season.
Possession is key
The Vols committed only one turnover in the first half, alleviating one of their most taxing margins when it mattered most.
Virginia entered its second matchup of the weekend, forcing only 10.5 turnovers per game, but Tennessee still needed to be sure it didn’t allow the Cavaliers to excel in an area where they usually don’t.
Since Tennessee didn’t win the offensive rebounding battle early, cutting things down in the giveaway department helped even things out in a vital way.
Offenses roll
Surprisingly, between two of the nation’s top defending teams, stops proved hard to come by in the opening moments of the second half.
Ament caught the scoring fire for the Vols, racking up a quick 10 points. After not scoring in his team’s first-round bout with Miami (Ohio), the freshman showcased his driving ability to get to the charity stripe and convert on some easy points.
Virginia still couldn’t get its 3-point stroke working to the clip that it would like to, but some better success at the rim helped it maintain a deficit within arm’s length. Whichever team could get stops down the stretch would help itself in punching a ticket to Chicago.
Dancing on
The Cavaliers crawled back.
Thijs De Ridder hit a pair of free throws to tie things at 66 with 4:44 to go, capitalizing on a 6-0 Virginia run that fired up the Hoos’ faithful. The two teams traded the lead over the final minutes, Tennessee shooting itself in the foot with several turnovers.
The Vols didn’t let their blunders do them in.
Tennessee forced a crucial stop, swatting away a White layup that deflected back off Virginia and out of bounds. The Cavaliers found themselves desperate, and the Vols salted things away at the free-throw line.
Tennessee will face two-seed Iowa State in the Sweet 16 in Chicago on March 27.
