CHICAGO — Identity games come in all shapes and sizes. 

For Tennessee basketball, and a Rick Barnes-coached team in particular, a once-doubted identity has carried the Vols back to the Elite Eight for the third straight season. A defense-first identity is one that’s gained a bad reputation for winning on college basketball’s grandest stage in years past. 

The Vols have plenty of evidence to argue against that claim. In Tennessee’s Sweet 16 win over Iowa State, Barnes’ group got the job done just the way they like to — relying on their identity. 

“Our identity is defense,” Ethan Burg said. “It’s going to take us where it takes us, the defense, the grittiness. If we keep being physical like that, be the aggressor, we’re going to hopefully get more wins.” 

Maybe Tennessee’s most impressive feat of their defeat of the Cyclones came in containing the nation’s top 3-point shooter. Milan Momcilovic entered the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament converting his looks from distance at a blazing 49% rate, one of the biggest factors in Iowa State’s strong campaign. 

The Vols held the sharpshooter to just a pair of makes from beyond the arc in eight attempts, confining the 6-foot-8 threat to only six points. After three straight outings with at least three triples, Tennessee forced Momcilovic to settle. 

“They really didn’t give him any space anywhere,” Iowa State head coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “Every time he would come off a pindown, screening action, or be on the move, they were into his body. They were physical. They were aggressive. They were very intentional. They kept length and physicality in his space at all times, so he couldn’t move as freely as we like.” 

Bishop Boswell drew the tall task of defending one of the sport’s top dangers from deep, a role he is not at all foreign to this season. Barnes leans on his sophomore guard to bring the highest level of defensive tenacity to each opponent’s best weapon. 

The Charlotte, North Carolina, native rewarded his fellow Tar Heel once more. 

“I think defensively, we’re just one unit, all of us playing together,” Boswell said. “I wouldn’t be able to do it unless I know I have them behind me, if I get beat, things of that nature.” 

While the defensive identity has remained up to par for Barnes’ guys this season, one of their strongest traits on the offensive end of the floor looms just as large. Tennessee’s consistent success on the offensive glass is a strength that sometimes appears as a crutch. The Vols are yet to fall into one of the prolonged scoring droughts that plagued them during the regular season in the NCAA Tournament, but their reliability in coming down with offensive rebounds isn’t showing any signs of running dry, even when an efficient number of shots are falling. 

Tennessee grabbed 16 of them against the Cyclones, taking advantage of a margin it knew would be up for the taking with Iowa State’s lack of size. The Vols kept their two-seeded opponent from gaining any physical advantage down low. 

Tennessee flexed in the way it knows best. 

“We kind of want to prove a point that we are the most physical team in the country,” J.P. Estrella said. “We kind of talked about it as a group. We really wanted to just make this a statement game tonight.”